


Reunited

by writingwithmolls



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cordelia is kicking it as a single mom, Cordelia owns a coffee shop, F/F, Sumia is divorced from Chrom, The Olivia/Cherche is background!! Just heads up, more tags as I update!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-05-07 10:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14669037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingwithmolls/pseuds/writingwithmolls
Summary: As far as Sumia was concerned, it had always been just her, Cynthia and Lucina. It killed her that her daughters looked every bit like the man she once loved, but that was okay. Sumia wanted nothing else in the world, until she reunites with her childhood friend. Cordelia, who also is no longer with the father of her own daughter becomes a beacon of hope in her life. Suddenly, Sumia is thrown out of the monotonous routine of everyday life as a single mom and yearns to not be alone in the endeavor.





	1. Chapter 1

_There’s no way that could possibly be her._

I’m pretty sure that I was hallucinating in the middle of the store. Cynthia was up late last night, maybe I was just getting the side effects of no sleep.

Should I say something to the stranger? I contemplated my options while leaning on my shopping cart. Having a day off meant shopping when you're a mom, so it wasn’t surprising to see me in the supermarket on a Saturday morning, but nothing ever interesting happened. It was almost peaceful without the girls needing something from me, yet it was just a boring chore.

But, my eyes couldn’t stop glancing at the woman with her long hair pouring over her shoulders. _It just had to be her._ The way she carried herself with such a royal posture, confidence practically enshrouding her. I could see her fierce, yet kind eyes all the way from the end of the aisle.

My mind wandered back to the question of whether or not I should speak up. She probably didn’t even remember me. I was about to turn and just walk away, when the woman’s voice rang out.

“Sumia?” She asked, with a big smile. “Oh my gods, I can’t believe it’s you!”

I smiled back, surprised that someone like her would remember me- regardless of the fact that we were childhood friends. “Cordelia, I haven’t seen you in forever.”

I was surprised when she came over and hugged me tight. “How are things? I was so upset when we ended up losing contact. You’re not on any social media.”

I hugged her back, a bit shocked. “Same.” I said truthfully, still too confused about the whole situation to even say anything more.

Cordelia let go, before looking around the aisle. “Oh crap, where is she?” She mumbled, before calling out. “Severa!”

“Severa?” I asked, before getting my answer relatively quickly. A little girl, who looked to be about the same age as Cynthia came around the corner, holding a box of donuts in her hand. She had the same colour hair as Cordelia, except hers was gathered up into two ponytails.

“Don’t run off like that.” My friend scolded, but the younger girl just stood up on her tiptoes and placed the box into the cart without a word. Cordelia sighed before turning back to me. “This is my daughter, Severa. Hey Severa, this is my friend Sumia from when I was little.”

“You’re a mom?” I laughed, it completely blindsiding me. “I really never imagined you as a mom.”

“Yep, neither did I.” She laughed. “Then my friend Olivia had a baby and I ended up really wanting one for myself. I don’t know, the feeling of having a mini you is indescribable.”

“You could say that again.” I smiled, thinking of my own two daughters.

“No way.” She looked me over. “Am I hearing that little Miss Sumia is a mother?”

I nodded, wanting to crack up at her amused expression. “Not just one, I have two girls.”

“Bless your soul.” She shook her head, running her hand through Severa’s hair. “Super mom of the year. Hey, by any chance would you like to stop by my house tonight for dinner with your kids? Just tell me how many and we’ll be set.”

“Are you sure, I really don’t want to bother you.” I twisted a lock of my hair, really not wanting anyone to have to serve me.

“No it’s really fine!” Cordelia gave me a warm smile, the smile that I had missed so much now that I thought about it. “We just unpacked all of the dining room, so it would be great for you to be the first one over to see.”

“I mean, I would love to come if you’re really okay with it.” I returned her smile, feeling suddenly bashful. “It would be just me and the girls then.”

“Okay, that will be good-” She was interrupted by Severa pulling on the edge of her pants.

“Mommy, we have to go! I don’t want to be late!”

“We’ll be fine.” Cordelia shook her head. “Sorry, I need to go drop Severa off at her friend’s house. Can you put your number in my phone and I’ll text you what time to come over?” She dug around in her purse and handed me her iPhone.

“Sure,” I quickly typed in my name and number, sending myself a message just so I could add her back. I gave her back her phone, and was surprised once more when she wrapped her arms around my neck. This time, she didn’t let go right away. I could feel myself flush, not used to any contact except for my own children’s.

“See you tonight, Sumia.” She whispered, and then the next thing I knew, I was left alone in the aisle once more.

I leaned back on my cart, almost causing me to fall, but I caught myself. I couldn’t believe that seeing Cordelia again would happen. I was convinced that she had forgotten me, I was so unimportant, while on the other hand, she was the definition of perfect. I knew that we were friends, but did I really mean that much to her that she would remember me?

*

I pushed my hair back, letting out a sigh. Hopefully Chrom wouldn’t mind me picking up the kids a bit early.

“Cynthia, how did you manage to mess up your hair already?” I asked the little girl as I lifted her out of her car seat.

The four year old looked up at me, as I smoothed her hair down. “I don’t know Mommy.”

“Lucina, your bow is falling out, get over here.” I quickly fixed my older daughter’s hair, making sure that she was also presentable.

“Mom, remember to breathe.” I have to admit, the fact that my ten year old had to remind me that scared me a bit, but I made sure to put on a smile.

I grabbed the cake from my car, before shutting all the doors and locking it. I had to admit, I had become a pretty good baker in my freetime, much different than how bad I used to be. Hey, at least I didn’t burn anything anymore.

“C’mon girls.” I looked over my daughters one more time. I had made sure that they were both clean and wearing dresses for dinner. I just needed at least _someone_ to think I had my life together. Besides, just looking up at Cordelia’s house was a giant sign that she most definitely had her life together. She lived in a nice neighborhood, a big house with a nice and green lawn. I had to bite my tongue, it reminded me of when I was married, when I didn’t have to work and I had everything set out for me and my daughters.

But, I couldn’t linger on that. I was flattered by the invite to dinner, and I knew that I didn’t want to mess anything up. It had been so long since anyone bothered to invite me anywhere, not since the divorce, really.

I headed up the steps to the house, and let Lucina ring the doorbell. I only had to wait seconds before Cordelia opened the door, smiling at the girls who were in front of me.

“Hello!” She laughed, “You two are absolutely adorable!”

“Hey Cordelia, thanks for invited us over.” I said shyly, stepping in after the girls. “I brought a cake for dessert.”

“You really didn’t have to, but thank you so much! I’m going to go put this in the kitchen, the dining room is right over there.” She pointed to an archway that opened up into another room, which contained a chandelier and a dining set, but no other decor.

I didn’t have much time to look around, however, because Cordelia returned with Severa in tow. Severa didn’t look very happy to see us, and it was a surprise that she seemed so very different from her charismatic mother.

“Severa, do you remember Sumia from this morning?” The little girl nodded, but still showed no signs of any affection. “And these girls are..?”

Cordelia trailed off, reminding me that I had not introduced my own children. “Oh sorry, I forgot! This is Lucina and Cynthia. And girls, this is Cordelia.”

“Hello!” Cynthia gave a big smile and a wave, the bubbly girl practically on her toes.

“Nice to meet you.” Lucina smiled, “You look very pretty, Miss Cordelia.”

Cordelia laughed, “Thank you, and just ‘Cordelia’ is fine, sweetie.” She motioned over to three chairs on one side of the table, “You girls can sit together. Severa, make sure to be nice.”

“When am I not nice?” The young girl mumbled, but sat next to the sisters anyways.

“You can also sit, Sumia, I’ll go finish up the food.” Cordelia left with a smile, as I sat across the table from the children. Cynthia was already babbling away to Severa, who seemed more interested in staring me down, as if I came to steal her mother away. Cordelia came back out with the plates of food, she had checked earlier what to cook so that everyone would be happy.

And, despite me repeatedly telling her that she didn’t have to go out of her way for me, she brought out salmon for our meal.

“Oh wow.” I couldn’t help admiring the food on my plate. “This looks like some five star dish.”

“It’s really nothing.” Cordelia sat down next to me, picking up her fork. “Besides, I need to celebrate being able to see you again.”

“Mommy!” Cynthia interrupted our conversation. She tended to do that, my daughter was such a talker through and through. “Daddy took us to play tennis today, and Lucy and me beat him in… whatever doubles.”

I flinched a bit when she started talking about Chrom, I didn’t want my divorce to be too painfully obvious. But for my children’s sake, I had to smile through it. Chrom and I had talked about how we needed to be, at least in their eyes, on good terms. I never wanted them to see us fight or argue, I could never hurt them like that.

“ _Canadian_ doubles.” Lucina corrected, “Mom, that’s when you play two on one. I’m pretty sure Dad let us win, but it was still fun. He said my serve is looking much better.”

“You girls play tennis?” Cordelia asked, “That’s amazing! It’s such a hard sport.”

“Yeah!” Cynthia excitedly bounced in her chair. “We always play it when we’re at Daddy’s house! And Lucy is going to join the school’s team next year when she’s in the middle school.”

Cynthia laughed, “Now, that’s really fun. Maybe you should let them teach you a bit, Sev. It might be fun.”

The girl stared at her mother, then looked over at the eccentric Cynthia besides her. “Maybe.” She decided after seemingly careful deliberation. Jeez, I never knew a small girl could be so _calculating_.

Cynthia cheered wrapping her arms around Severa’s small frame. She jerked back a bit, but didn’t push away my daughter. Maybe a friendship was possible?

The rest of the dinner was spent with me listening to Cordelia’s stories, her life seeming like a fantasy. After high school, she went to a private college, and earned a degree in Business and Culinary Arts. She opened her own cafe straight out of college, which proved to be successful. She gave birth to Severa when she was 25 (the same age--and year--that I had Cynthia). More recently, she opened up a second cafe in town and decided that it was just the right neighborhood that she wanted Severa to grow up in, so she bought this house. What interested me was that there was no mention of a man, but I didn’t want to bring it up in fear of upsetting either Cordelia or her daughter.

“I can’t believe that we’re turning 30 this year.” She sighed, both of our meals long gone. “We’re not young anymore.”

I didn’t know about me, but she still looked like she was in her early twenties, just beginning adulthood.

“Oh my god.” She sighed, almost with a gasp. “I am so sorry that I talked so much, I didn’t even bother to ask about you!”

“Believe me, nowhere as interesting as yours.” I nervously laughed, and was almost delighted that my phone began ringing at this point.

I quickly grabbed it from my pocket, but hung up the second I saw the called ID. Talk about _my life_.

“Sorry-” I was going to pick up the conversation when my phone began again. I once again denied the call, trying to speak again.

The third time, I picked up the phone angrily, forgetting that both Cordelia and the children were watching. “What could you possibly want, Chrom. I am in the middle of dinner, so please call later.”

“Maybe you should consider it is something important if I called back _three times_ Sumia.” My ex-husband replied quickly and I knew that some bickering was in store.

“Sorry, if you would excuse me.” I said apologetically to my host, before leaving the room with my phone.

Chrom didn’t even wait for me to respond before he started drilling me about my share of medical bills that I had yet to pay and blah blah blah. I fought back, insisting that it wouldn’t kill him to pay the entire thing, considering it was for our daughter who was sick, but he wouldn’t hear it.

“Sumia, you can’t keep draining money from me.”

“I’m _not_ draining money from you.” I tried to keep my voice low, but it was hard to stay quiet due to my frustration. “You only take the girls on the weekends, yet I still need to work two jobs to support them. And then when an emergency arises, you want _me_ to pay as much as you. It doesn’t match up! I barely have enough to live off of, yet you’re up sitting in that _mansion_ of yours.”

“I’m not doing this with you again.” Chrom cut me off, “Get the money to me by next week, or I’m going to call the lawyer again.” And he hung up.

I let out a beyond deep sigh, feeling tears threatening my eyes. I just couldn’t afford another expense this month, my paycheck wouldn’t allow me. Utilities, mortgage, gas money, and not to forget mentioning that I had to get my only car fixed recently. My check barely covered all of that, and to add medical expenses on top of that?

I was about to just let the tears fall, when a figure appeared in the hallway. “Sumia, are you okay?”

I took a deep breath, and managed a sad excuse of a smile. “Yeah, just some bad news, but nothing that can’t be handled.” Okay, it sure as hell _was_ something that couldn’t be handled.

“You don’t have to lie.” Cordelia stepped close to me, and I could smell the perfume that she was wearing. “I sent the girls upstairs to play, you don’t have to pretend to be strong.”

I was taking shaky breaths, trying my hardest not to just simply break down in tears. “It’s just a financial situation between me and the girls’ father.” I spoke softly, deciding to tell the truth. “He wants me to pay half on emergency room bills, even though he has way more than enough to cover them himself. And I’m not even close to being able to afford it this month.”

I sniffled, embarrassed by my situation. It was always hard for me to talk about my financial state, especially to people who were very much well-off.

“Well, he's obviously an asshole.”  Cordelia scoffed. She placed her hand on mine, which was clenched around my phone. “Come and relax in the living room, I'll make some tea and I'll see what I can do about this.”

I followed her down the hall, but I couldn't help my cheeks from heating up with embarrassment.

Her living room was pretty put together, especially for just being moved in for a couple of weeks. It was still lacking some decor, but one wall was adorned with a painting of a grand cherry blossom tree. The rest of the room was a mixture of greys and whites, opening to the kitchen as well.

“Take a seat, and is green tea okay? I don't think I unpacked any other one yet.”

I took a seat on the plush couch, “Cordelia, you really don't need to go through the trouble-”

“Believe me, there is no trouble.” She laughed from the kitchen. “Now, how much are the bills for.”

“He wants me to pay three hundred.” I sighed, looking down at my lap and twisting my hair. “I guess I'll be taking it out of Cynthia’s college fund, I just really don't want to touch it, though.”

“Don't worry about the money, I really don't mind paying it.” Cordelia responded, and I nearly choked.

“I can't do that.” I responded instantly, losing a bit of my composure. “That's very kind, but I just can't do that.”

I could hear her filling up a kettle with water, and then the clank of it being placed on the stove.

“Sumia, you’re a friend and I can't bear to see you hurting over something that isn't even your fault. I have extra money, and I really want to see you much happier than you are right now.” She came into the living room, sitting down close to me, our shoulders brushing. “Don't forget that we were inseparable in high school, I can still read you like an open book.”

“I shouldn’t be something you need to spend money on.”

Cordelia let out a heavy sigh, “Fine, if it’s _that_ much of an issue, then you can just pay me back. Is that okay enough?” She flipped her hair to her shoulder, it slightly brushing me in the process.

“I mean, I still feel bad about it…” I hesitated, but came to the realization that I couldn’t just _not_ decline this. “Thank you so much.”

Cordelia’s smile lit up the room, “No problem! Now, do you want to watch a movie or some bad reality TV show? We should take advantage of the girls having each other to entertain themselves.”

I laughed, “That is true. It’s nice to be able to watch something _not_ cartoon for once.”

“I’ll get the tea.”

And it was with that proposal, all of my tension and anxiety about this visit seemed to melt away. Curled up with Cordelia with mugs of tea, watching a cheesy romance movie- suddenly I was a teenager again, hanging out with my best friend. I didn’t feel the need to hide who I was, I didn’t need to bite my tongue and watch what I said. I was having so much fun just being in her company once again.

By the time I had to go, I was reluctant to. I had never felt so wanted since the divorce and I didn’t want to go back to being alone. But, the girls had school in the morning so I had to get them to bed.

Cordelia hugged me once more holding me tight to her. “I’m not going to let us fall out of contact again.” She promised.

“Me neither.” I smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

I felt like a teenage girl again as I was waiting for Cordelia to arrive. Today was my day off at work and she invited me out to the large park near our town.

“We need to take advantage of the warm weather! When was the last time it was sixty degrees in February near here!” That’s what she had said on the phone. I had so much housework to do, but I wanted to see her again. We were meeting at the park, but only for a bit because we had to pick up our daughters from school.

We had texted at least once every day for the past two and a half weeks since we reconnected, but I was always too busy with work to hang out. But, I only had a shift later tonight and the girls were currently in school.

“Sumia!” I turned around to see Cordelia approaching me with two cups of iced coffee. Her long hair was gathered up in a ponytail, which swayed behind her. “It’s a honey latte, I hope it’s good!”

“You really didn’t have to.” I took the coffee and swirled the straw before taking a sip. “Wow, this is great.”

Cordelia’s face lit up with a smile, “Thank goodness, it’s a flavor I’m considering introducing to the menu, but I wasn’t sure if the flavor only appealed to me.”

“You made this?” I was surprised. I knew that she ran a cafe, but I honestly didn’t expect it to have such high quality drinks. “Cordelia, this is amazing.”

I was surprised to see her blush at my comment. “Thank you.” She smiled.

We walked over to a set of benches, sitting down close together. Cordelia was humming, playing with the straw of her cup. I was staring at her hands, wondering how she had the time to have a perfect french manicure. 

“It’s gel.” She noticed my glance. “So the polish stays on for about three weeks, it’s so nice.” 

“Ah.” I said. “I don’t normally do my nails. I break them all the time working or playing with the girls.”  _ And there’s just not enough money _ .

“Severa doesn’t usually like to rough house. To be honest, she worries me a bit, I’m not sure if she really has any friends.” Cordelia frowned.

“Wasn’t she going over to a friends house the other day?”

“She was, but you know how it is. Us moms set that up.” I shrugged, not really knowing that feeling. Lucina seemed to be well-liked at school, while Cynthia always talked to everyone. I never set up things, I wasn’t close to any of the parents.

“Well, her and Cynthia are about the same age. I’m sure Cynthia would manage to get her running around, she has a certain charm about her.” I laughed, “Bit of a handful.”

Cordelia laughed with me, but then asked, “What happened between you and ex husband?” She said it as if she had tested out each word. But, it was also sudden, like she had been holding it back.

I sighed.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to. I was just curious.” Cordelia backed down quickly.

“No, no. It’s fine.” I shrugged. “We got married really fast. I don’t think I really  _ knew _ him when we did get married. But honestly we had a very happy and close relationship. But, we started fighting and bickering after Cynthia was born. It just really wasn’t working out and we filed for divorce when she was still a baby. We were married for eight years and for a while I beat myself up about the divorce. Wondering if I was giving my children a bad life. Honestly, I’m still getting used to it--finding myself. It’s kind of silly.”

Cordelia’s gaze never broke with mine. She place a hand on my shoulder. “No, I think it’s understandable. When you get married young, it becomes your identity.”

I was getting to become a bit uncomfortable with the attention. I disliked pity, I even got the puppy dog looks from other parents when I would show up to school events by myself. 

“What about you? Of course, you don’t have to say a word if you don’t want to.”

Cordelia shook her head. “Severa’s father was honestly just a hookup. She doesn’t know who he is and I don’t get support from him. There’s nothing wrong with child support, but I just didn’t want any contact with him.” Her face was set and determined, but something about her eyes looked sad.

“That’s really brave.” I said and I meant it. I wouldn’t be able to raise my kids without Chrom, much less without money from him.

“It’s not.” Cordelia looked at me strangely, beginning to say something, but stopping. “Sorry, I guess I’ve been a bit bitter about it recently.”

She turned and I decided that it would be best to drop the conversation. The day was too nice and warm to be bringing up bad memories.

“Cordelia, remember in high school when I used to do flower fortunes?”

She cracked a sad smile, before the memory came back and she laughed hard. “Oh my god yes.”

I was happy to see her laughing (even if it was at my expense).

“If I remember correctly, I would watch you pull petals off until you got the answer you wanted. Regardless of how many flowers you would go through.” She laughed, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

“Well, what’s the point of the fortune otherwise?” I shrugged, sipping on my coffee and smirking.

“You were so fucking cute.  _ Still _ cute.” She glanced at me and smiled when she saw my blush. 

“I’m not.” I said almost by default. “You must be remembering wrong.”

Cordelia shook her head, “You’re gorgeous. And I don’t want to hear that you aren’t.”

I felt myself flushing even more under her gaze. I pressed my hand against my cheek, feeling it burn up. “I get flustered so easily.”

“Some things never change.” Cordelia pointed out. “I haven’t seen you trip since catching up with you again, though. Does it feel good to stay on your feet?”

I pushed her shoulder, laughing. “I’m still pretty clumsy though. Just the other day I fell over some of the girls’ toys and I thought I broke my ankle. Which would be a disaster, because then I couldn’t work.”

“Where  _ do _ you work?” Cordelia asked. “You seem to have the craziest hours.”

“I work at a home improvement store during the week. Weekends I work clothing retail, but that doesn’t pay much.” I shrugged. “But longer hours because the girls are at their dad’s.”  
Cordelia looked confused. “What’s your degree in?”

I shook my head. “I dropped out my first year of college.”

Cordelia was silent. She probably thought that I was stupid now that she knew how my life went after high school. Running off to get married, ditching school, ending up divorced.

“Would you want to work for me?”

I whipped my head up, “What?”

“At my cafe. I need more workers, right now at this location it's only me, Olivia and Cherche. I could hire you for whatever hours you need. Above minimum wage for sure.”

“I appreciate it, but there’s no way.” I had looked into various coffee shops, most only paid minimum. “I don’t want to get the job just because I’m your friend, there’s plenty of more qualified people to take the position.”

Cordelia finished her remaining iced coffee with one, long sip. “Okay. So schedule an interview with me the next time you’re free. I’ll take a look at your application and when you get the job I can schedule for training as soon as you put in your two week warning.” She smirked.

“Why are you doing this for me? The money. A job.”

She got up from the bench, turning to face me. “You deserve to live a life that you want. One that you’re proud of.” She offered me her hand to pull me up. “Let’s go pick up the girls, I’ll take you all for ice cream.”

*

“How come Luci isn’t here?” Cynthia asked as soon as the car door opened and her sister wasn’t in the usual spot. 

“We’re meeting her for a surprise with Cordelia and Severa.” I was never one to ‘baby talk’ with my children. They weren’t puppies, they could handle conversations. 

“Yay!” Cynthia bounced around as I buckled her into the pink carseat. “I love Sevy!”

I laughed at the nickname. “Make sure you ask her if she wants to be called that, okay?”

“Okay.” She smiled.

When I turned on the car, the  _ Frozen _ soundtrack automatically came streaming through the speakers. 

“Let’s listen to  _ Moana! _ ” Cynthia said as soon as she recognized the lyrics.

“But it’s winter.” I laughed. “Isn’t this more appropriate.” I backed out of the spot.

“But, Moana is more cooler.”

“Moana is cooler.” I corrected, “But fine, I guess we can change it.” I knew if Lucina was here, she would have put up a fight for the Ice Queen. She tended to want things to match up, especially seasonal music. 

We made it to the ice cream parlor after a particularly tone-deaf duet of “You’re Welcome.” Neither of us had the ability to keep up with the rap. I didn’t see Cordelia’s car in the parking lot just yet, so we continued to jam out to  _ Moana _ . I even let Cynthia into the passenger seat.

We were halfway through “How Far I’ll Go” when there was a sharp knock on my window. I nearly jumped out of my skin, until I saw that it was Cordelia grinning at us. 

I blushed, turning off my car and getting out.

“I love that movie, too.” Cordelia laughed. “Sev isn’t the biggest fan.”

“Mom, how come you weren’t listening to  _ Frozen _ ? It’s December.” Lucina’s face was set in a frown.

“I know.” I shook my head with a smile. “How was school? Did the math test go okay?” She had a surprising amount of testing for a fourth grader.

“I don’t think it went too well,” Lucina frowned, “some of my friends had completely different answers from mine.”

“It’s okay!” Cordelia held the door open for all of us to walk in. “Your mom was horrible at math in high school.”

“Cordelia!” I adopted a scolding tone. “They think I’m a math  _ god _ , don’t do this to me.” But it was too late.

“Mommy? You can’t do math?” Cynthia asked, before getting distracted by the ice cream flavors.

“When we were in class together.” Cordelia addressed Lucina. “I would always let her copy my homework. But then, since she didn’t study, your mom would fail the tests. So I started doing the homework with her instead. It would take a really long time, but in the end she was able to get better grades because of the effort she put into it.”

“I can’t believe you’re telling her this.” I remembered the hours I spent crying over math grades. That’s why I wasn’t hard on Lucina about math, because I wondered myself if it was worth it.

“So just keep working hard and remember that grades aren’t everything. You just want to look at the progress instead of the grade. Now go pick out an ice cream.” Lucina nodded, her eyes shining as she looked at my friend, before running towards the freezers.

“That concludes the Ted Talk.” I laughed and Cordelia nudged my arm.

“Lucina is a smart girl. Choose a flavor.”

I shook my head. “I already had the iced coffee. Don’t want to gain fifty pounds.”

“Nonsense.” Cordelia said.

I was going to argue, but Cynthia dragged me over to point at the flavor she wanted. Severa was silently looking over her choices and I couldn’t help but to think about Cordelia’s worries for her. She was much too serious for a young girl.

After we managed to get all the girls’ ice creams, Cordelia took out a card to pay. Once again I was stuck trying to get her to not pay for my family. She just waved me off and moved over to the tables with her cookie dough ice cream and two spoons. The girls were absolutely thrilled with their treat, even Severa who eagerly licked her cone.

Cordelia sat across from me and placed the ice cream halfway between us. She handed me one of the plastic spoons.  

“No, I really can’t.” I placed it down on the table. “I’ve already gained weight, don’t need more.”

“Sumia. You look gorgeous, an ice cream won’t kill you.” Cordelia locked eyes with me. “Don’t make me do this the hard way.”

“The hard way?” But by the time I asked, Cordelia had leaned forward and plucked the abandoned spoon from the table. She scooped up a bit of the dessert and thrust it towards my mouth. 

“Eat.” Cordelia commanded, but she was trying hard not to smile. I rolled my eyes, but I leaned forward and accepted the ice cream. 

“You’re ridiculous.” I laughed, taking the spoon back. 

“ _ You _ were the one who wasn’t going to eat ice cream.” She took a bite herself. I watched the girls: Cynthia was trying to offer Severa a taste of her chocolate ice cream, causing Lucina to want the sample instead. I turned back to Cordelia, realizing that her eyes hadn’t left me. She was smiling.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She hummed. “You’ll take the interview, right?”

“I don’t know how to make coffee.”

“Olivia will teach you.”

“I don’t want to sound rude, but I don’t want to be pitied.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I coulds stop them.

“It’s not out of pity.” Cordelia’s face grew serious. “If I can help you, I’m going to. You and your girls deserve the absolute most.” 

I couldn’t argue that Lucina and Cynthia did, but me? I really didn’t deserve anything, it was my string of stupid decisions that led me to this point.

“Plus, I would love to be able to see you every day. Or even just weekends if that’s what you choose.” Cordelia smiled and I couldn’t help but to smile back.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you ready for the interview?” Cordelia sat down, placing her notebook on the table. Her coffee shop looked what I had expected from my friend--nothing but perfection. All down to the black boards with rows and rows of coffee flavors written in script. 

“You have a coloring book instead of a notebook.” I pointed at the fairies that were half colored on the page. I assumed that it was Severa’s, because the colors didn’t exactly stay in all the lines.

“And I don’t have a pen,” she motioned to her hand where she was pretending to hold a writing utensil, “but you didn’t notice that.”

Olivia laughed from behind the counter. I was given a short introduction to her; enough to know that she’s very shy but equally nice. I could immediately tell how close her and Cordelia were. They shared whole conversations just by looking at one another.

“This isn’t really an interview, is it?”

“Nah,” Cordelia waved me off, “to be honest, you’re already on the schedule in two weeks.”

“Cordelia!” I shook my head, but I felt the smile creeping onto my face. The more I thought about the job leading up to the “interview,” the more I felt like it was something I wanted to do. Something that would make the work day less dreadful.

“If you’re not busy, we can start training today.”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Cordelia clapped her hands together. “Good, because company protocol is to tie hair up. You’re going to look so adorable.”

“I feel like you can’t flirt with the person your interviewing, Cordelia. That’s an improper business practice.” Olivia said from behind the counter. 

“I could fire you  _ really _ quickly.” Cordelia turned towards her and smirked.

“Honey that is discrimination.”

“For being bitchy?”

The front door opened with the ring of a bell. “Welcome!” Olivia greeted, moving on from her other conversation.

“See? We have a great time here, just not when there are customers that need help.” Cordelia was smiling at me. “Also, I promise that she’s kidding. She might be a bit shy around you at first, but she warms up quickly.”

“Are you two close?”

She nodded. “We’ve been friends for five or six years now. She was so shy when I first met her, but I knocked it out of her. We should probably get you started on the training, though I have seem to lost an employee. We’re low on pastries and she’s in charge of that.”

“Do you guys have assigned jobs, or do you kind of do whatever?” I asked.

“Kind of both. Olivia likes taking orders, I like making the actual coffee, and Cherche is really good at cooking and baking. We all fight each other at the end of the day about cleaning duties.” Cordelia laughed at her last remark. “I’ll go get you an apron and a hair tie.”

I stayed in my seat and watched Olivia hand the customer a hot coffee. She seemed to be the same age as Cordelia and I, but she had a bit more of a younger look. Her pastel pink hair was gathered in a low ponytail and she wore a white blouse under her apron and gold bangle bracelets. She blushed when the woman put a tip in the jar and thanked her.

“For your hair.” Cordelia appeared beside me and handed me the hair tie. Thanking her, I brushed through my hair and tied it up. I never wore my hair up, I just didn’t think it looked nice. But, rules are rules.

“Wait, there’s a bump. Let me get that.” She reached out and smoothed down a piece of my hair. She smiled and fussed with my bangs a bit. “It’s so cute. Now I’ll teach you how to make some coffee!”

She grabbed my hand, bringing me around the counter. The kitchen station was extremely organized, everything labeled and neat. Once again, it was something that just screamed  _ Cordelia _ . I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the kind of mom where every snack in her pantry is labeled and in airtight containers. 

“Okay so first of all, always wash your hands.” She turned on the sink and I snapped my attention back to her. “Just make sure to do so if you leave, spill something on your hands or especially if the customer mentions they have an allergy.”

“Are you going to teach her like you taught me and Cherche? Because that was mean.” Olivia wiped down one of the counters with a dish towel. “You enslaved us for about two weeks.”

“Me? Absolutely not.” Cordelia sarcastically brought her hand to her chest. “You two are very precious to me. Where’s Cherche, anyways? She’s on the clock.” Cordelia brought a hand down on Olivia’s shoulder.

“Why should I know?” Olivia hummed.

“You two are  _ so _ impossible.” Cordelia raised her eyebrows. “She is literally your wife.”

“I know, I know. Kidding. We ran out of post stick notes, so she went to buy some at the supply store. She left right before you brought Sumia here.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “How long have you two been married?” 

“Oh  _ thank god _ you didn’t hire another homophobe,” Olivia clapped her hands together, “for almost a year!”

“To be fair, I fired that woman the first second she said anything.” Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Sumia, I work with two newly weds just to emphasize on a daily basis how lonely I am.”

“Seems like a fun club for me to join then.” I cracked a smile.  

“That would be a good club. Just you two ladies.” Olivia poked Cordelia’s shoulder. “Are you working with me until closing? We need to chat.”

The bell rang and all three of us turned to the door. A woman was walking in with a shopping bag, her hair up in a bun. She carried herself in a very similar fashion to Cordelia: shoulders back and chin up.

“Cherche!” Cordelia greeted. “This is Sumia, we’re going to be training her.”

“Hey,” she greeted, “So you’re the girl that Cordelia won’t shut up about?”

“Not necessary, once more.” Cordelia muttered, turning away quickly. “Sumia, this is where we keep a general tab of all the drink recipes.” She fanned through some laminated sheets on the counter. I was a bit thrown off by how quickly she changed the subject, but I joined her nonetheless. “You’ll learn pretty quickly that most of our drinks use the same roast of coffee, so it’s a simple as knowing what syrup to pour in the cup. Don’t worry about memorizing this, it’s not like I’m going to test you.”

“This is so cute.” I held up one of the sheets. Not only was it organized and formatted, but it also had a color code to identify the ingredients. “Your shop is possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen. It needs a Tumblr or something.”

“We  _ do _ have an Instagram page. That might make you hate all three of us though, because we can spend full afternoons trying to get a single picture.”

“Olivia and Cordelia are quite the perfectionists.” Cherche was tying her apron on. “They’ll abandon me and the register to try to get one of those photos.”

“It’s worth it though, we’ll show it to you later.” Olivia said.

“We also need to get a picture of you sometime so we can give our official welcome.” Cordelia smiled.

“Eh,” I breathed through my teeth, “I’m not much of a picture person.”

“It’s a tradition, so become one.” Cordelia’s voice was tinged in a way that I could recognize it as a threat.

“I told you, they take it very seriously.” Cherche pointed at Cordelia. “You should see how she lines up Severa for pictures, too. Total mom mode.”

That started a bit of a fight between the two, both of them bickering back and forth. I wanted to bring up the fact that I was supposed to be learning right now, but I could tell that they kept a relaxed environment at the cafe. There were no customers in at the moment and I assumed they were on top of other duties. It was so unlike the hardware store, where my job involved me running around in circles trying to locate the goods. It was nice to just be hanging out with the other women.

“Training… training… training…” Cordelia said out loud, crossing her arms. “I guess we can just wait until someone comes in and you can watch us make orders a couple of times before doing so yourself.”

“A lot of people come in during the afternoon, surprisingly.” Olivia explained. “We get a rush of parents before and after school pick up, since we’re so close.”

“Do you have any kids at the elementary or middle school? Kids at all?” Cherche asked.

“Yeah, my one daughter is at the elementary school, my other is in the preschool.”

“We take turns picking up each other’s kids, so if you don’t mind you can always join that so we can get the most out of our work schedules.” Cherche offered, “Olivia’s son Inigo and Severa go to the same preschool, but it’s pretty close to the elementary school. We would just need an address for your other daughter’s school.”

“Are you sure? That’s four kids right there.” I almost laughed, “But don’t forget to make sure that I pick them up sometimes, too.”

“Lucina and Cynthia are really good, though.” Cordelia pointed out. “Severa and Inigo can be quite the handful together. Inigo is really insistent on making Sev run around while she would rather just be quiet. They bicker.”

Cherche pointed at Olivia and Cordelia, “Reminds you of two certain people, I wonder why.”

“Delia and I aren’t bad,” Olivia puffed out her cheeks, “you’re so mean to us.”

“I’m just saying you two can be a handful together.” Her wife raised her hands in defeat. “You play off of each other.”

“She’s right about that,” Cordelia laughed, “c’mon, Sumia. I’ll show you the store room.”

I followed her to a back door, where there was just barely enough space for ourselves and shelving. The shelves were filled with bags of coffee, bottles of syrups, and dry ingredients. Once again, everything seemed to have its place.

“Once again, I can show you how to do inventory once it comes time to do so. But, to be honest most of the time, someone just says ‘oh, we’re almost out of blah blah blah’ and someone goes to pick it up.”

“Like Cherche and the post stick notes?”

“See, you catch on quickly.” She smiled, before her face turned serious. “Is everything good? I just want to make sure that this isn’t too much at once.”

I shook my head, “Everything is good, I’m pretty sure.”

“I don’t want to step out of line, but you just seem like the kind of person who gets overwhelmed quite quickly.”

I blushed at her words, “You’re right about that one. But thanks for checking on me.” It was a bit embarrassing, but it was nice to know that she was looking out for me. Most of the times, people just pushed me until I started crying. Until it got to be too much.

“And you do want to work here, right? I still feel like I’m just roping you in a bit too forcefully.”

“Absolutely, I really think this place is adorable. And the three of you are so kind, I would be stupid to turn down this job.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Cordelia audibly sighed. “Sometimes I get a bit ahead of myself and I don’t think too much about the people that I’m just dragging around.”

“To be honest, I don’t get that vibe from you.” I motioned to her. “The fact that you had this conversation with me shows that clearly.”

“Then, how about we get back to the coffee making?”

“I haven’t touched the coffee yet.” I laughed.

“Fine. I guess  _ start _ then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to thank you so much for the comments, they make my day! I want to make sure to update this a bit more regularly, it's just that I write out of order! For example, right now only ~5,000 words are published, but I have over 20,000 in the document. Thank you so much for the love xx


	4. Chapter 4

I was honestly disappointed to go back to work after the first day of training. The next morning I put my two week notice in, but I still had to do the job for those two weeks in order to get the paycheck. I wanted to be able to get a recommendation from this place once it was all said and done, so that meant attending the rest of my shifts.

“No, whenever I was here those types of pots were in the outside gardening center.” A man said to me for the fifth time. He was older and gave me the vibe of  _ annoying _ before even approaching me.

“I’m sorry, sir.” I smiled even though it was the last thing I wanted to. “That part of the story is closed during winter. And it is winter.”

“I don’t like your tone, missy.” He growled. “I want to speak to your manager.”

“Because the  _ outdoor _ center is closed when it’s cold?” I asked, but I kept an even composure. “I’ll check where we keep the pots during the winter, but they might be a seasonal item. If that’s the case, I can see if I can place an online order for you.”

“But I know where they are located.” This man really wouldn’t quit. I could never understand people who made it their life goal to annoy retail workers. “What’s a woman like you working in a store like this, anyways? This is a man’s job--construction.”  
“On a second thought, I’m going to just call my manager. Please follow me to the cash register.” I smiled. I knew with that comment my _female_ store manager would be on my side and wouldn’t mind putting the rotten man in his place.

I called for her over the loudspeaker and found joy in watching the man’s reaction to who my manager was. I thanked her before carrying on with my work. This job was honestly exhausting sometimes. I glanced at my watch. At least it was almost my lunch break. Cordelia offered to pick me up and eat something quick at the cafe. At this point, escape sounded good.

“Sumia!” A man called out and I turned around. Robin was just walking in, his car keys still in hand. “I missed you the last couple of weekends, so I decided I  _ desperately _ needed some paint.”

I laughed at his smirk, “You know the drill.” And the two of us headed towards the paint section. Sometimes he would show up at work and ask for various items just to keep me busy. In reality, it was just to chat and give me a break from the people who needed actual assistance.

Robin was the only person who reached out after Chrom and I’s divorce. It was a bit weird, considering that Robin was my ex-husband’s personal secretary. But the kids love him and he never got angry at me or chose sides. Most of the time, we just chatted when I dropped off the girls, or family events like birthday parties. He stayed by my side to make sure I wasn’t getting stared down by some of Chrom’s less likeable family members.

“So, I saw that V.E. Schwab announced a sequel to  _ Vicious _ .” He was also the only person who liked reading as much as I did.

“No way.” I clapped my hands together. “We must protect Sydney Clarke at all costs. And the dog.”

“Especially the dog.” He pretended to look at the paints. “So, what have you been up to?”

“I got a new job,” I announced, “it’s a cute coffee shop on Main Street. My friend Cordelia owns it and she convinced me to work as a barista.”

“That’s nice, does she have a daughter? Cynthia keeps talking about a little girl named Severa… I think?”

“That would be them.” I smiled, glad to know that our daughters were getting along. “Maybe she could come over to hang out with them one weekend. Lucina wants to try to teach her tennis.”

He shook his head. “Those girls and tennis. I’m glad that they actually like the sport, though. I would feel bad if Chrom was forcing it on them.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I checked to see if any of my coworkers were around before looking at the screen. “And that is my cue to take my lunch break.”

“Meeting someone?”

“Cordelia, actually. I need to go and write down the time I’m leaving.”

“I’ll meet you at the door and walk you out.” He offered. Sure enough, by the time I came back from the break room he was waiting at the door.

“Don’t you have better things to do? Like your own job?” I teased as we plunged into the cold. I spotted Cordelia’s car in the loading zone, so I headed towards it.

“Chrom is on a bunch of personal calls today, apparently. So I was dismissed; I feel like a servant sometimes.”

“But was the word he used  _ dismissed _ ?”

“They were indeed.” He pointed towards Cordelia’s car, “Your ride?”

“Yep, I’ll make sure to call you soon.” I smiled.

“See ya.” He kissed my cheek and I waved before turning around.

I got into Cordelia’s car, buckling my seatbelt as I greeted her. “Thank you so much from saving me from that hell building.”

“No problem.” She said, putting on her blinker before pulling away from the curb.

“There was this one guy who wanted to convince me that the gardening center was open, even though it’s the middle of winter, then followed it up with a sexist comment.” I groaned, “I hate people.”

“Hm.” She made a kind of affirmative noise, not looking over at me. There was something up, I could tell by the way that she made no commentary on my story.

“What’s wrong?” I asked instinctively.

“There’s nothing wrong.” She said in a tone that suggested that there most certainly was something wrong. I didn’t probe though, I just waited until we pulled into the cafe and got out without a word.

Olivia pretended not to know me at the counter, which lead her to being scolded by Cherche, who was in the middle of taking muffins out of the oven. I got one of the muffins, since they smelt amazing and ordered a mocha coffee so I would be able to make it through the remaining shift.

Cordelia ordered as well and we both took a seat by the window. She looked out the street, her eyes following each car that passed.

“Okay, I definitely did something, what’s up.” I put my phone down.

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.” Cordelia said. It was the same hint in her tone as when she asked about my marriage. It sounded like she was forcing the words out at me.

I giggled a bit, “You mean Robin? I cannot explain how much the name  _ Robin _ and the word  _ boyfriend _ do not belong in a sentence together.”

“Guys, your order is ready!” Olivia announced, holding up the coffee and plates.

“I’ll get them.” I offered, bringing back the pastries and coffees. I handed Cordelia hers, “If I had a boyfriend, I would have told you, promise.”

“I’m really sorry,” she bit her lip, “I guess I just got in my head a bit and you didn’t want to tell me about your relationship.”

“I also had a random guy kissing my cheek goodbye.” I laughed. “That’s Robin. He’s actually Chrom’s secretary and a family friend. He takes care of the girls a lot, so we’re close.”

“I’m sorry.” She said again, taking a sip out of her coffee. She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I got ahead of myself. I feel kind of stupid now. It’s kind of interesting that you and him are close, even though you’re not on good terms with your ex.”

“Yeah, there’s a few people around him who still consider me part of the family. Chrom has two sisters who invite me to all the family events and parties. I really only go the girls’ birthday parties though. And sometimes I go to Lissa’s son’s party, he still calls me his aunt.”

“I wish Severa had cousins.” Cordelia seemed to relax a bit. “Though I guess Olivia’s son is close enough. But, what do you do for holidays?”

I shrugged. “Most of the time the girls go to Chrom’s. I don’t really have enough money to do anything anyways.”

“Even Christmas?”

I nodded. “Chrom and Lissa invite me every year, but I just don’t think I would want to intrude. It would be weird to be there, especially since I just remember how Lucina would bound in and wake us up early to open presents. It’s just too fresh of pain, regardless of how much of an ass he is now. At one point, he was my husband, and it’s hard to forget the good parts of our relationship.”

“Do you think you’ll date someone again?”

“Me? I mean, probably, it’s not like I’ve sworn off love because of Chrom. But no one wants a divorced mom-of-two like me.”

Cordelia started laughing, shaking her head at me. “If only you knew.”

I was about to question her words, when my phone went off on the table. I saw it was Chrom and sighed before picking it up.

“What’s up? Robin isn’t with me anymore, if you’re looking for him.” 

“I’m not looking for him, I dismissed him for the day.”  _ Oh geez _ , Robin was right about the use of the word dismissed. It almost made me laugh. “Something urgent came up, so I can’t make it to Lucina’s play tonight.” 

“Okay, yeah no. It’s fine.” I bit my lip. “Just make sure to tell Lucina that you’re sorry, she’s really excited about being on the stage.”

“I will, sorry.”

“It’s fine. Bye.” I hung up, sighing. 

“Everything good?” Cordelia crumbled up a napkin in her hand. “He’s not pulling shit again, right?”

I shook my head. “Something came up for his company, so he can’t come to Lucina’s play tonight. I understand, but I just don’t want Lucina to be upset. It’s all she has been talking about for weeks.” Though, it did make me happy that I wouldn’t need to sit next to him for two hours.

“Severa and I can come.” Cordelia offered. “If you don’t want us to, just say so, but maybe it would distract her a bit.”

“You don’t have to. It’s an elementary school play so it can be pretty… painful. And she has approximately two lines.”

“But Lucina also deserves to have a bit of an audience. And that means I can spend more time with you and Cynthia.”

“I mean, if you  _ really _ don’t mind, it’s at the elementary school building at six.” I smirked.

“Severa will be happy to hang out with Cynthia… I think. I’m not really sure her opinion of your daughter.” She tilted her head. “I’m glad to go to a school play that isn’t the nativity.”

“The nativity? Isn’t that not allowed in schools?”  
Cordelia rolled her eyes, “My mom pays for Sev to go to a Catholic preschool. At first I wanted to do it just to make my mom happy, but I have decided I’m not a fan. The parents are a bit vicious there. She was telling some kids about Cherche and Olivia and I got a call from the teacher telling me that she got in trouble for being inappropriate. I don’t think the staff there likes me after they heard my response to that.” She grimaced.

“People are assholes.” I agreed. “I mean two people of the same gender kissing is considered inappropriate, but they throw the word  _ virgin  _ around as if that doesn’t require an explanation.”

“ _ Thank you _ .” Cordelia ran her fingers through her hair. “Someone understands.”

“I don’t want to go back to work.” I said, glancing at the time. “Less than two weeks and I can be here.”

“Less than two weeks and I can bother you almost every day.” Cordelia raised her coffee in a fake ‘cheers’ motion. 

I raised my cup as well. “Thank god.”

We tapped the coffees together.

*

“Parents are  _ crazy _ , please stop me if I ever become one of them.” She whispered in my ear, nodding in the direction of a few couples fighting over a seat. She had both of her hands full, one with Severa and the other with Cynthia. Cynthia latched onto her the second I got her out of the car. I told her to not bother Cordelia, only to be waved off. 

“Sometimes I feel myself slipping into crazy mom and it scares me. What if I start matching outfits with them?” I admitted, causing her to laugh. We took our seats, Cordelia and I sitting next to each other with the girls on either side.

“I’m going to have another daughter and just add -lynn to the end of the name.” Cordelia pointed to the list of names, which almost all fit the criteria.

“What if her name is already Lynn?”

“Lynnlynn.” Cordelia said with a straight face before giggling. I laughed at her ridiculous response. The lights in the gym blinked in warning of the beginning of the play. “If you really want to be a crazy mom, now’s a good time to whip out the iPad to take pictures.”  
I hushed her, knowing very well that I would be laughing through the entire production if she continued.

I watched as the play began, the narrator stepping onto the stage reading from a paper. Lucina was upset about not getting a main role at first, but I convinced her that extras are essential. It was true, since the rest of the scenes would fall apart if the those in the background weren’t properly playing the part. Cynthia was trying to see over the heads in front of us, kneeling on the seat.

“Want to sit on my lap, I think you could see through those people’s heads.” Cordelia whispered across me to Cynthia. Cynthia nodded and climbed over me to sit on Cordelia’s lap. I couldn’t help but laugh when a betrayed look crossed Severa’s face. Cordelia scooped her up as well, balancing each girl on a knee.

I watched the stage as Lucina entered to play her part as a knight. It was so cute how seriously she played the background part, holding a wooden sword and standing straight upright.

I turned and watched Cordelia. As the girls craned their necks to see around the crowd in front of them, she had her eyes focused on the stage as if she was watching a Broadway production and wasn’t sitting in an elementary school gym. 

I felt a swell in my chest. The image hit me, how she was caring for the girls I loved so much. The smile on her lips as she held her daughter and mine close.

Scooting over on the metal chair, I leaned into her and rested my head on her shoulder. I felt Cordelia move her arm from around Cynthia to holding my waist instead. I became self aware of my breathing, her fingers absentmindedly rubbing my waist. I snuggled into her as the curtain closed and kids ran around to set up for the next scene. It had been such a long time since someone held me.

I wondered if Cordelia did this often. If this was normal to her. I always found myself wondering about Cordelia and her actions. If I was as special to her as she was to me.

It was hard to stop myself from overthinking everything. I shifted my thoughts to the play instead of the fact that my heart was beating a little too fast. 

By the time the play was over, Severa was out like a light and I was about to be the next one asleep. Cynthia, as per usual, was bubbly and jumped off of Cordelia’s lap the second that the curtain closed.

“Don’t be the second one to fall asleep on me.” Cordelia squeezed my waist and I picked my head up. “I can’t carry two of you out of here.”

I yawned, blinking the sleep from my eyes. “I don’t think you could carry me anyways.”

“Don’t doubt my strength.” Much to my disappointment, she unwrapped herself from me, standing up with Severa in her arms. “I could most definitely carry you.”

“Carry me!” Cynthia jumped up, smiling at Cordelia.

“The next time you come over, I’ll carry you around.” She promised.

“Thanks for coming,” I said to her as everyone else around me filed out of the gym, “and it was nice to hang out with you and Severa.”

“I’m going to get this girl to bed.” She nodded towards Severa who was passed out on her shoulder. “Tell Lucina that she was amazing, she should try out in middle school next year.”

I laughed. “She’ll be happy to hear that.” 

Cordelia turned a bit, walking away, but then spun back as if she forgot something. Before I could point it out, she stepped forward and kissed my cheek.

“Goodnight, Sumia.” She whispered in my ear and stepped back once more.

“Can I have a kiss too?” Cynthia was practically bouncing by my side as my heart was nearly bursting in my ribcage.

“Of course.” She smiled and kneeled down, kissing Cynthia’s cheek and running a hand through her hair. “See you soon.”

And with that, she was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

“You should have seen the look on Cordelia’s face when she found out she had to meet the contractor at the other location.” Olivia shook her head. “She was  _ angry _ .”

It was my first day at my new job and I was left with Olivia in charge. Cordelia was upset about it, but I didn’t mind it too much. By the afternoon I had gotten the hang of using the cash register, which was ran by an iPad instead of a traditional register. It did make it easier to keep track of the complicated orders and it made the cafe much more modern.

Besides, I wasn’t quite sure on how to act with Cordelia yet. We hadn’t seen much of each other since the play, but it was killing me that I couldn’t decode her actions. I couldn’t tell if I was reading too much into her.

“I think she just wanted to force me into taking a picture.” I shrugged, rearranging the pastries that were behind the glass. The last customer had ordered so many of the sweets, leaving everything a slight mess.

“No, she just likes you. She kept talking about how excited she was for you to start work.” Olivia was washing some of the dishes that we used for eat-in customers. “I think she would move in with you if she had the chance.”

“Oh shit.” I cursed when my hand seemed to act by itself and knock over a pyramid of cookies that I had just spend ten minutes arranging perfectly. “I’m not sure that I’m fit for this job.”

Olivia looked over and saw my distress. “Awh, it’s fine. No one’s here anyways, so just start over again. My wife is always knocking stuff over, but it’s no big deal.”

It was strange that even that small comment prevented me from having a full breakdown over the wasted work. My mind tended to turn little things into big to-do’s. Cordelia nailed it right in the head when she said I was one to get overwhelmed.

“You and Cherche are a really adorable couple.” I said, beginning my stack again.

“Thank you.” She turned off the faucet, drying her hands. “I’m happy to have her. Some people freak out because we got married really quickly, but I just never had a doubt that she was the one who I wanted to spend my life with.”

“Ah, I wish.” I found a familiar loneliness creeping in. It always followed me wherever I went, but it stayed at bay if I distracted myself enough.

“Sumia!” Olivia jumped behind me, almost making me knock over the pyramid of cookies a second time. “It’s not like this was a first try thing, I’m sure you’ll find the one! I was engaged a while ago to Inigo’s dad. And then I had a long term relationship with a girl that ended nothing short of a disaster. But if I didn’t go through either of those things, I would have never met Cherche.” 

“You’re also gorgeous.” I pointed out one of the many obvious differences between her and me.

“Don’t say that like you aren’t.” She frowned enough that I could almost believe her. I was about to argue when the door opened up.

“I can’t believe this.” Cordelia said quite loudly once she stepped in.

“If it isn’t my favorite boss.” Olivia said with a smile that spelled trouble. “Why  _ ever _ are you so angry?”

“Olivia, I will hurt you.” I laughed at how dramatic Cordelia could be. “Sumia, I am so sorry that I missed most of your first day.” She put her hands on top of the display that I was working at.

“It’s fine.” I jokingly patted her hands. “Olivia taught me everything and I didn’t spill coffee on anyone.”

“A bit on the floor, but not a person.” Olivia added behind me. “Also I decided that I like Sumia more than you, she’s not mean to me and she actually listens to my stories.”

“I like her more than I like you, too, so we’re even.” Cordelia rolled her eyes, coming behind the counter.

“You love me.” Olivia said.

“Yes, but you are testing the limits of that. Make me a coffee Olivia.” They both laced their hands together, Cordelia leaning closer.

“Absolutely not. You just said you would hurt me.” Olivia shook her hands away. So maybe I was overthinking Cordelia’s actions, she was pretty touchy with everyone.

“What do you want, I’ll make it.” I offered, already taking a cup out. 

“Peppermint mocha, please. You’re the best, I’m going to fire Olivia.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Sumia don’t just kneel down to her like this.” Olivia was taking off her apron.

“I’m doing my job: making coffee.” I smiled at her.

“That makes one of you doing work, why is your apron off?” Cordelia tried to intercept Olivia as she slid in front of the counter.

“Because you’re replacing me with your girlfriend.” Olivia smirked. Thank god I had my back turned to them to put the lid of the coffee, because I could feel my cheeks heating up.  _ Girlfriend _ . “I’ll go run some errands if it doesn’t get busy in ten.”

“Then why is your apron off?” Cordelia asked.

“I’m just going to sit and watch you two working hard.” Then she started whispering to Cordelia low enough that I couldn’t hear. She practically skipped to the front of the cafe, taking a seat at the window.

“Here’s your coffee.” I slid next to Cordelia. “What did she say to you?”

“Nothing that I will be repeating out loud.” Cordelia took the coffee and I looked at her face, which was a bit pink.

I poked her arm. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

“I am absolutely not flustered.” Cordelia insisted, turning her head away from me. I could feel my heart beating quick once more and she wasn’t even here for more than five minutes. I guess I  _ really _ had to find time to sit down and get my feelings in order.

“Okay... “ I teased, putting a hand on her shoulder before returning to the cash register. A group of teens were on their way in, most likely just getting out from school. It was like a blur between typing the orders into the tablet and then having to use the recipe cards to correctly make the coffees. I was glad for Cordelia, who was able to make the drinks twice as fast (and for Olivia, who took her sweet time getting back behind the counter). The girls were right about getting a rush of customers after school got out. There were lots of teenagers who wanted iced drinks, parents with bags under their eyes who wanted unheard of amounts of espresso shots, and of course hot chocolate for their children.

The job was fun. It reminded me a bit of the flash games I would play online in middle school--all the cooking ones. By the time the rush dissipated, my legs were tired from walking back and forth between stations. At least I wasn’t complaining, like Olivia, who had wanted to leave an hour and a half prior.

“Sumia, want to help me close in an hour and we can pick up the kids and get pizza at my house?” Cordelia asked, cleaning a dish that had once been filled with coffee cake. “I want to order, but it’s too much food for just Severa and I.”

“Am I not invited? Jeez.” Olivia said.

“You, Cherche, and Inigo are welcome to come.” Cordelia responded. “I just didn’t think you wanted to.”

“I’m teasing, have fun on your date.” She winked before dodging Cordelia and grabbing her jacket from the back hook.

“Don’t come back.” Cordelia called after her. “Oh my god, I’m going to hurt her.”

I giggled, looking at her blush. “It’s fine.” But I knew I was probably blushing, too. “I would love to come over. Plus the girls love pizza, so everyone is happy.”

“Cherche will probably have the girls done with their homework by the time we pick them up, she’s always on top of it. You look a bit tired.”

I shook my head. “Just getting used to everything. Thank you so much for this job, Cordelia.”

“I’m glad that you like it.” She smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. I’m sure it was lukewarm by now after having to deal with all the customers. “The lighting has gotten a bit dark, but I’ll be sure to get your picture tomorrow.”

“Not the picture.” I said.

“Here, look at our Instagram page. It’s a masterpiece.” She went over the cash register, exiting out of the payment program and going to Instagram. I had to admit, the profile was very pretty. Lots of pictures of the coffee and food that we sell, but balanced with pictures of customers and my friends.

“See, here’s the picture we used to welcome Olivia and Cherche. Even though they worked here since this location opened.” She tapped a picture of Olivia holding a coffee behind the counter with Cherche kissing her cheek. She then went to a picture of two coffees in the snow. “This was the first snowfall of the season. You should have saw the tree we put up for Christmas.”

I took over the iPad, scrolling through some of the pictures myself. I clicked on one of Severa sharing a piece of cake with a little boy. “Is this Inigo?”

“Yeah, isn’t he adorable?” Cordelia was now leaning on me as we both looked over the pictures. “He’s not too much older than Severa and since he has an August birthday, they’re in the same grade. Olivia and I are thinking of moving them to public school next year, so then they’ll be in the same class as Cynthia. We should all be class moms together.”

I laughed. “I’m never becoming a class mom. There’s too many rumors about me going around, I hate those parents.”

“Why would they talk about you, though? You’re so sweet.”

“I’m not very social.” I admitted, absentmindedly scrolling through the pictures. “I have two friends and one of them is you.”

“Olivia would kill you if she was here, you’re her friend. Same goes for Cherche.” Cordelia shifted even closer to me. “And I’m sure there’s more people who consider you a friend.”

She was wrong, but I didn’t argue. I stopped on a picture of Cordelia, bundled up in a scarf and jacket, laughing with a travel mug in hand. “This picture is really beautiful.”

“I froze my ass off for it.” Cordelia smiled. “Now is it okay if for the last hour or so I work on finance stuff? I’ll be at a table so you will still be able to get me if you have any questions.”

“I should be good, unless a party of ten comes in. Then I might cry.”

“Okay, so I’ll just be working on my laptop and then we can close up. Keep up the good work.”

The last hour of the day went by quickly, with only three people coming in to order coffee. I spent most of it beginning to clean the counters and watching Cordelia work from the register. She was typing into a laptop and I noticed that she even sat up straight when she was going work. This woman must have the best posture I’ve ever seen. And her face looked pretty when it was illuminated by the screen.

I must have stared at her for a while, until she turned and smiled at me. I smiled back, mentally cursing myself for my lack of subtlety. I  _ really _ had to get my feelings sorted out. By the time I got to flip the sign to ‘closed’, I couldn’t decide if I was stressed or excited to go over to Cordelia’s. A bit of both, it was hard to continuously judge her actions in relation to me.

“For closing, we just sweep the floor and wipe down all the tables. And it looks like we have quite a few leftover sweets. We can’t keep them fresh overnight so we’re going to bag them and give them to a shelter that’s on my way home. I deal with the money about once every week, which is probably a bad business business practice, but whatever.” Cordelia counted off each thing on her fingers. “I’m going to call for the pizza now.”

I gave her a thumbs up and grabbed the broom from the closet. Working together, it didn’t take too long to complete all of her list. Twenty minutes after closing we were outside and locking the door.

“You survived!” She cheered, her breath showing in the cold.

“I did.” I laughed.

“You’re in charge of picking up the pizza, I’ll get the kids from Cherche and meet back at my house.” She said, digging cash out of her pocket and handing it to me. “It should be under my name at the Frank’s place. You might beat me home.”

After agreeing to the plan, I drove over to pick up the pizza. I used my own card because Cordelia had already paid for so much in regards to my children and ended up parked in her driveway before she got home. I looked at the clock and called Robin.

“I need someone to talk feelings with.” I said the moment my phone connected.

“Don’t you have a whole bunch girls that you work with now? Won’t they be better help?”

I thought back to all the little punches that Olivia and Cherche always got in at Cordelia’s expense. “No, I think I need you.”

“I’m not spying on your ex for you.”

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “You’re the worst. I… well. I think I might like someone, but I can’t tell if I’m just liking the attention. If that makes sense.” I couldn’t even word what I was feeling. “And I don’t know if they like me or not. But I highly doubt that anyone would like me so--”

“Sumia.” Robin warned. “Don’t say things like that.”

“It’s true.”

“It is  _ not _ true.”

I saw another pair of headlights turning into the driveway. “I have to go. Come to the cafe tomorrow to chat on my break.”

“I don’t even know where you work.” He said and I could hear the confusion in his voice.

“I’ll send you the address and I’ll even buy you coffee, please?”

“Fine.” He huffed. “Have a good night?”

“Night.” I hung up, getting out of my car as Cordelia opened the door to hers.

“Oh thank god, I’m starved.” She started getting Severa and Cynthia out. “I forgot that I only had one car seat so I drove  _ really _ slowly.”

I hugged Lucina and Cynthia. Cynthia was already babbling about her new friend Inigo before I even got a chance to say hello. I earned some sort of wave from Severa, which was an achievement in my eyes.

“How was Cherche’s.” I directed the question to Lucina.

“It was fun!” She smiled and I grabbed her backpack to put in my car. “I got to play on Inigo’s iPad when I finished my homework.”

“Olivia gave her five year old a tablet?” I asked Cordelia who grabbed the pizza from my car on the way to the front door.

“If we’re being specific, I think Cherche gave him it. She loves that boy. You should get a Snapchat so he can start a streak with you. And me.”

“Isn’t that the social media that teens use to send nudes?” I asked, recalling quite a few conservative news casts.

“Only if you want them.” She winked at me with a laugh. I shook my head, but my heart skipped a beat. “I’ll set up your phone later, I personally like getting drunk snaps from Olivia. I don’t drink, but I feel like I can live vicariously through her.”

“What about Cherche?”

“I can’t even tell when she’s drunk, to be honest. Total poker face.” She pushed her front door open, the girls darting in before us. “Do you drink, what’s drunk Sumia like?”

I shrugged. “I have no filter. Like I say  _ whatever _ is on my mind when I’m messy drunk. Robin told me that getting me drunk was better than a polygraph, so yikes. How about you when you drank?”

I regretted the words when I saw the tight expression on her face. “Let’s just leave it as I don’t drink anymore.”

“Sorry.” I said honestly. It was obvious that there was a reason that she stopped drinking and it didn’t seem like it was good.

“It’s fine, you didn’t know.” She shrugged it off, putting the pizza down on the counter. “Want to grab some plates from the cabinet over the coffee maker?”

We situated ourselves around the kitchen table. Cordelia seemed to have been completely settled in since the last time I was here. Her decorating could be featured in a magazine, it was flawless. I was happy for her knowing how hard she worked at her businesses to earn this. 

“Cynthia’s hair is so pretty!” Cordelia was staring at her hair that I had wrangled into braids this morning.

“It’s just french braids.” I said, taking another bite of my pizza.

“Oh, I can’t braid hair.”

“You don’t know how to braid hair?” I feigned shock. “Not even a three strand braid?”

“My mom never taught me and I never learned.” She shrugged.

“Can I braid your hair?” I asked excitedly. I loved doing other people’s hair, especially long hair like Cordelia’s. “And I can show you how to braid Severa’s. I promise it's easy.”

Cordelia’s face lit up. “That would be so cool.” We both finished up our food pretty quickly after that. We washed our hands, stacked the plates in the sink, and Cordelia ran upstairs to grab a brush.

We settled down in the living room as the girls went upstairs to play. Cordelia had set up a playroom in the office that she wasn’t using. I got her to sit on the floor in front of me as I sat down on the couch. 

“Gimme the brush.” I said and Cordelia handed it to me. I began to brush through her long hair, making sure to be careful whenever I found a knot. Her hair was so smooth and straight as I ran my fingers through it. I gathered some of the front pieces that framed her face and started to do a quick three strand braid. “This part is going to stay out of the braid, so this will keep it out of the way.”

“Fast.” She muttered, taking a braid and examining it.

I set the brush through her hair once more before I started the french braid. Her hair was thick and therefore a bit difficult to keep under control. It didn’t take long for my hands to fall into a rhythm, taking and twisting and taking and twisting. As I worked on her hair Cordelia began to hum no song in particular. Once I ran out of new hair to pull from the sides, I finished in a long three strand braid.

“I’ll take a picture to show you.” I said as a slid on the hair tie.

“You did not finish that fast.” Cordelia actually sounded shocked, but kept her head still at my demand. Her hair was stunning in a braid, the red strands reflected the light to show off the highlights.

“It’s really easy once you learn how to do it, it’s not a big deal.” I laughed at her amazement. I gave her my phone, “Here you go.” She looked it over as I quickly undid the braids that were sectioning off the front part of her hair.

“What the hell!” She whipped around, the braid hitting my leg. “This is amazing, I love it, thank you.” All the words tumbled out of her mouth before she practically lept on me to give me a hug.

I toppled over down onto the couch, hugging her back. Her excitement was contagious and I was laughing at her. “It’s literally  _ nothing _ . I promise I’ll teach you how to do it on Severa.”

She pulled away from the hug slightly, her face inches away from mine. “You better, Sumia.”

I was going to respond, but I was too busy staring at her eyes. Thinking about how much I liked when she calls my name. I was smiling, but I could feel her arms around me and mine around hers and how close our faces were to each other. Her eyes flitted downward, before returning to my gaze. My breath caught in my throat.

_ Oh my god. _

I never wanted to kiss someone more in my life.

And I couldn’t believe that I didn’t get the chance to. Because we forgot that the two of us had children, who require  _ that much more _ attention whenever something important is happening.

“Mom!” Severa yelled from the other room. “Where did the crayons go?”

Cordelia backed away ever so slightly, before sitting up and leaving me quite shell shocked. She smiled and I could see the blush on her face. “Come and show me how to do it on Sev’s hair.”

“Y-yeah.” I sat up as well, trying to figure out if I imagined the whole scene. My nerves didn’t die off the entire time I taught her how to master the three strand braid and my mind couldn’t stop thinking about what could have just happened. Cordelia, on the other hand, recovered quickly and was back to her cool self within minutes.

Robin was in for one long story tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Five: Alternatively named "Molly should have made this into two chapters, but instead it ended up being almost four thousand words."


	6. Chapter 6

“Cherche, am I good to take a break?” I asked when I saw Robin walk in.

“Sure.” She looked up and saw Robin approaching the counter. “Boyfriend?” She smirked.

“No way.” I shook my head. “Hi Robin. This is Cherche, she works with me. This is Robin, he’s my ex’s servant.”

“Wow.” Robin dragged the word out. “Secretary, but similar. Nice to meet you.”

“I mean.” Cherche scrutinized him. “If you  _ are _ going to like boys, he’s cute. I think. You’re very boyish. I’ll consult my wife when she gets back.”

Robin laughed. “Thanks? I think. Sumia, I’ll just get a black coffee I guess.”

“Really?” I pointed at the menu. “Dude we have so many different flavors and you’re not going to try one?”

“Fine, just get me whatever flavor you think I would like.” He sighed, taking his wallet out.

“I’ll just put it on my card.” I shook my head, getting out a cup to fill it with the brew. “I was the one who asked you to come anyways.” I decided to go for just the mocha syrup, since Robin wasn’t one for sweets. Instead of handing him the coffee, I brought it with me from behind the counter. I led him over to table that was the furthest away from the cash register. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted Cherche to hear in fear that she would never let her live it down.

Robin took the seat across from me. “Not to be cheesy or anything. But you look  happier than you’ve been in a while.

I furrowed my brow. “What?”  
“I think you’ve talked to me more in the past two months than the five years since you and Chrom split. And you’re friends with your coworker. If we’re being honest, you’re glowing.” Robin blew on his coffee, dispersing the steam.

“I feel happier.” I admitted. “I didn’t think much about it, but now that you said it out loud”

“So.” Robin leaned forward. “Who’s this person that you like?”

“You sound like one of Lucina’s little friends.” I laughed. “I don’t know if I like them. I think I do. Like  _ really _ do.” I already felt my cheeks heating up. Curse that I get flustered so easily.

“I mean, what does he do that makes you so happy?” I felt my muscles clench at  _ he _ . Maybe this was a bad idea. But before I could abort mission, my mouth betrayed me.

“She.” I said quietly. “She’s a girl.”

I didn’t want to look at Robin’s face. I was essentially coming out, even though I still didn’t have a full grasp on my feelings.

“Is that why you’re feeling apprehensive?” He got serious and he reached over the table to take my hand. “I don’t think there’s a problem with that. You like who you like.”

“I was married to a man for eight years.” I looked down, but squeezed his hand.

“As I said, you like who you like.” Robin rubbing his thumb in a circle on my hand. “People are bisexual. Or pansexual. Or you don’t even need to label it if you don’t want. That’s what I do. Why do you like her?”

“She’s kind. Confident. Honestly, the definition of perfect.” I sighed. “Even if I like girls, she’s out of my league. Far out.”

“I’m sure she’s not.” Robin let go of my hand and took a long sip of his coffee. “You have quite the habit of putting yourself down, Sumia. Just flirt a bit and see where it takes you.”

“I don’t know if she even likes girls.” I tried to explain. “She’s touchy with me, but she’s touchy with  _ everyone _ . And we almost kissed, but we were interrupted and we both pretended that it didn’t happen.”

“So you’re telling me that you almost kissed and you think she doesn’t like you?”

I groaned and buried my head in my arms on the table. “I don’t know if it was an almost kiss, though. What if it was my imagination? What if I’m just really lonely?”

“I think if it was really just that you were lonely, you would have gone for me a while ago. Sumia, you are aware you are an adult? You can date people.”

“You’re so condescending.” I said.

“Only because you’re being dumb.” He scoffed. “Try to match with her on Tinder or something.”

“I know that I’m lax with rules, but I don’t think you can sleep on the clock.” I jolted up at the voice. “Olivia has tried more than once.”

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled, looking at Cordelia who had seemingly appeared at the table with a camera hanging around her neck.

“I kid.” She reached out and smoothed a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail. “Good morning. And who are you matching with on Tinder?”

Robin was looking back and forth between Cordelia and I. I shot him a look in hopes of making sure he kept his mouth shut.

“Robin, right?” Cordelia asked, offering her hand. “I’m Cordelia. I own this cafe.”

“That would be me.” He smiled. “This place looks stunning, congrats on the second location.”

“Thank you so much.” She lifted up a camera. “Sumia, it’s picture day.”

Cherche clapped from behind the counter. “Good luck sweetie!”

I shook my head. “I look horrible.”

“You are so adorable, shut up.” Cordelia grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the seat. “All of Instagram needs to know that you work here, we need to show you off.”

“Sumia.” I turned back to Robin, who was watching the whole scene unfold. “You are fucking stupid.”

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrow.

He just shook his head at me. “You heard me. I should head back before Chrom notices that I’m gone. Nice meeting you, Cordelia. You too, Cherche.”

“Next time you come in, you can make the Instagram page, too.” Cherche called out. “Your white hair goes with our aesthetic.”

“We’ll see.” Robin laughed. “And Sumia, you just need to go for it.”

Cherche watched as Robin left. “So do you want him to be your boyfriend?”

“No, no, no.” I couldn’t believe how fast he ditched me. “Our relationship isn’t close to that.” I redirected my attention to Cordelia.  

“I’m thinking in front of the chalkboard.” Cordelia led me over to the wall, before placing both hands on my shoulders and pushing me into place. “Yes.”

“Do we really have to take a picture?” I asked, feeling nervous. I hated pictures. Not matter how hard I tried, I looked horrible in each one.

“Of course.” Cordelia ran her thumb across my cheek. “You’re our cutest employee.”

“Okay, there has to be rules against this.” Cherche interrupted from the counter. Cordelia withdrew her hand and smiled at me. “But draw hearts above her head like in those filters.”

“That’s the best thing that has left your mouth all day.” Cordelia ran over to the counter and grabbed the chalk that we used to write the daily specials. “Stand up straight with your back touching the board.” She directed, before standing on her tiptoes and leaning against me to draw above my head. I heard her scribbling, but could only process how close she was and the smell of her perfume. She smelt like vanilla. “Stay still.” Cordelia took a few steps back to look at the whole picture.

“That’s cute!” Cherche said from the counter. At this point, the few customers that were currently in the shop all had their eyes on me. I wanted to just blend into the chalkboard behind me. “Give her the coffee cup.”

Cordelia got a travel mug with the logo on it from Cherche and ran it over to me. She placed it my hand and began to position me against the wall. “Okay, I think this is the pose.” Cordelia backed up and looked through the lense of her camera. “Never mind, I need to move the tables, they’re in the shot.”

She ordered me to stay still before parting the tables that were in front of me. I bit my lip, not a fan of all the attention that was being called to me.

“Don’t worry,” Cherche saw my worry. “She always makes a scene with the pictures, I’m sure anyone who has been here more than once has seen this already.”

Cordelia was back in front of me, fixing my hair so the ponytail cascaded down my shoulder. “Beautiful.” She whispered, flashing me another grin. This time when she looked through the lense, called out “smile” and I did as I was told. After a few pictures in that pose, she came back to where I was standing and adjusted my pose.

“Just look to the side, somewhat downward.” When I couldn’t get the angle she wanted, she just moved my head with her hands. “Look at this fucking model.”

“You’re insane.” Is all I could managed before she returned to taking pictures. This went on for much longer than I cared for, but by the time it was over she ran off to get the photos onto her laptop.

“You survived your first Cordelia photoshoot.” Cherche helped me put the tables back in order. “Congratulations. I have vodka I can put in your coffee.”

“I’m good.” I laughed.

“At least my wife wasn’t here, you got like a slow introduction.” She motioned for me to come back behind the counter. “It looked like they were coming out good, though. I know you don’t like pictures, but they’re going to turn out amazing.”

I shook my head, making sure to wash my hands before officially jumping back on the clock. 

“By the way, I really love your girls. They’re so well behaved.” 

“Thank you.” I smiled. “I’m honestly blessed that they are. And that they get along.”

“Olivia and I are working towards adopting another kid.” Cherche was beaming. “It’s a long and expensive process, but we both decided that we would rather adopt over a sperm donor. I just hope that they get along with Inigo like Cynthia and Lucina do.”

“That’s amazing.” I practically jumped at the news. “I heard that it’s a hard process, but it’s so worth it.”

“I’m a bit nervous about getting rejected for being a gay couple, to be honest.” Her own excitement died down a bit. “I just know that other couples will be chosen over us again and again because of it.”

“That’s unfair.” I could feel myself already getting defensive. “I’m sorry that you have to go through that. Maybe they’ll see that you two have Inigo and that might help?”

“I really hope so.” Cherche smirked. “Sumia, you always know what to say.”

“Ah, I think it’s the opposite. But sometimes I get lucky.” I shrugged.

“And you’re sure the boy you were holding hands with is not a boyfriend?” She raised her eyebrows.

“I would never date Robin.” I made a face. “Why do you keep asking?”

“Investigating... ” She trailed off as a customer entered. I forgot that I was even working at this point. I took the order and Cherche made the coffee with a speed I had yet to master. Cordelia was already hovering at the counter on her phone, most likely eager to share the pictures with us.

“Cherche, I love these so much.” She said as soon as the customer walked away from the counter. “Should we post a single picture or do you think we can do the sliding feature because they are way too cute to just choose one.”

Cherche took the phone and I looked over her shoulder as she swiped through the photos. I couldn’t believe that they were me. I actually looked cute with the hearts above my head, pretending to drink coffee from the cup. Even the picture where Cordelia made me look dramatically to the side came out nicely. I liked them more than my own wedding photos.

“Sumia is smiling.” Cordelia slid behind the counter, scooping me into a hug. I accepted it, hugging her back. “I told you that you looked cute.”

“Your photography is amazing.” I said earnestly, pulling away from her. “Perfect, as expected.”

“Only as good as the model.”

“Dear god.” Cherche sighed, giving the two of us a look. I took half a step away from Cordelia and, as per usual, my cheeks were warming up.

“Who is your gay ass praying to?” Cordelia pushed her shoulder.

“Our Father, in heaven. Something your name.” Cherche pressed her hands together sarcastically. I wasn’t religious, but I could only assume those weren’t the words. “Let’s go, alter server. Teach me the way.”

“You were an alter server?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine Cordelia at church, considering how much she talked crap about it.

“I was the best.” Cordelia picked her chin up. “Cherche, you can go to mass with my mom if you want. Best hour a week.”

“I want to try the cracker thing.” Cordelia rolled her eyes. “I’m in charge of Severa tonight, right?”

“You are correct.”

“What are you up to?” I asked.

“Oh, I have a date.” Cordelia said and I was glad she was not still holding on to me, because she would have felt my body tense up.

“Gotta make sure the house is free of children in case you succeed in seducing.” Cherche winked at her.

“Shut up.” Cordelia was blushing. “You’re only watching Sev because I don’t want to bring a small child to a first date. Great first impression.”

They went back and forth, but I didn’t add to the conversation. Was it wrong to feel this upset? Cordelia was a friend and I knew this. This little fact didn’t stop my heart from hurting.

I was glad when a large group of customers came in. I wasn’t in the mood for talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a family event today in which my cousin, brother, and I had a thirty minute argument about who's the best fire emblem girl. They both agreed on Olivia and I was tempted to just give in but then I fought for Severa/Selena and Soleil (but let's be honest all the fire emblem women are 100/10).


	7. Chapter 7

## 

I was glad that Cordelia didn’t bring the date up to me again because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep a neutral expression. And by Thursday night I was still thinking about how much I wanted to punch myself in the face for believing for a fleeting moment that she liked me.

Checking my phone, I saw that my only message was a Snapchat from Inigo. I couldn’t get over that the boy used social media, but I already had a ‘streak’ with him as well as the other girls. It was weird to use social media again after so many years of not, but I liked being able to see what my friends were up to.

“Mommy.” Cynthia pulled on my sleeve, so I returned my attention back to the coloring pages spread out on the table.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Which one should I color next?” She pointed to the stack of uncolored pages. I shifted through the stack.

“What about this one?” I pulled out a picture of Hector and Miguel from  _ Coco _ . There was no words to properly convey my love for that movie. Cynthia took it happily and grabbed crayons at random to complete the picture.

Lucina sat on the other side of me, her colored pencils organized by shade. The three of us were barely paying mind the the cartoons playing on the TV. Instead we were coloring and swapping stories of work and school.

“When can we visit the cafe?” Lucina asked.

“I’ll have to figure it out.” I said. “Hopefully soon, though.”

“Can I work there?” Cynthia butted in.

“Maybe when you’re older.” I couldn’t help but to laugh. My phone lit up on the table with a call. Cordelia.

“What’s up?” I shouldered by phone while continue to color my own page. Lucina had given me and  _ Adventure Time _ page since it had much more to color.

“Hey.” Cordelia sounded awfully quiet and I didn’t think it was because of the phone.

“What’s wrong?” I asked instinctively, putting the pencil down.

“I just.” She paused and I could hear her take a deep breath on the phone. “I didn’t want to be alone, so I called.”

I was consumed by worry, my stomach knotting. “What happened?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it, I’m sorry. I’m being ridiculous, I shouldn’t have called.”

Her voice was raspy, had she been crying? All the years I knew her as a teenager and I never saw her cry once. “Hey, hey, hey.” I said gently. “Don’t worry about it, I’m here. Do you need a distraction?”

She seemed to consider the question, while Lucina was looking at me with her brows furrowed. “Distraction would be good.”

“Me and the girls are coloring before bed, so I don't mind just chatting on the phone. But, you and Severa could come over if that would be better.”

“It’s pretty late and there’s school in the morning, I don’t want to be a bother.”  
“Cordelia.” I said. “You are _never_ a bother. You and Severa can sleep over if you want and everything will turn out just fine.”

“Are you sure?” She still sounded so doubtful, so much so that it hurts. “I don’t even have your address.”

I bit my lip. There was a reason for that. “I’ll text it to you right now. See you in a bit?”

“Thank you.” She whispered.

“No problem, drive safe.” I said, before hanging up. I typed out my address and pressed send. “Luci, Cynthia. Severa is going to come and sleepover.” Cynthia cheered, but my oldest daughter hesitated.

“Is Cordelia okay?” She asked.

“I hope so.” I responded. “We can cheer her up.”

I glanced around the living room, deciding it was a lost cause for cleaning. I was honestly embarrassed of my house. It was the kind of place where no matter how much you cleaned, it still looked dirty and old. The exact opposite of Cordelia’s brand new home, but I had to put my pride aside.

I tried to stay focused on my coloring to keep me from panicking. I wanted to be able to help Cordelia no matter what, but I wasn’t sure if I could do anything more than simply distract her from the bigger issue. By the time the doorbell rang, I was worried that I wouldn’t even be able to help her out with how stressed I was myself.

“Hey.” She said, barely illuminated by the streetlight. Her hair was shoved into a messy ponytail and her hands buried in her sweatshirt pocket. She looked exhausted. Severa was looking up at me, already dressed in pajamas.

“Hey.” I drummed my nails against the doorframe. “Come on in.” Severa went towards the other girls by default, but I gently pulled on Cordelia’s wrist. “We can join them if you want or we could go to my room and talk.”

“I think I want to color.” She responded. “I’m really sorry about this.”

“No apologizing.” I said. “You’re starting to sound like me.”

That earned a half hearted laugh. We joined the girls in the living room where Lucina had gotten Severa situated with one of the coloring pages. I slid back into my seat on the floor and Cordelia sat cross legged next to me.

“Is this a nightly ritual?” She asked and I noticed the rasp in her voice. “Because this is such a Pinterest mom thing.”

“Not nightly, we just like to hang out.” I smiled and she nodded. Her gloomy expression made me want to take down whoever or whatever made her feel like this. Cordelia picked up a pencil and tried to color in a part of my sheet, but I watched as her hands shook and she just put it back down.

She rubbed her fingers to her temples.

“Is touching okay?” I asked.

“What?”

“Would it help if I put my arm around you?” I explained. “I know that for some people it doesn’t help, so I wanted to make sure.”

She didn’t respond and instead rested her head on my shoulder. Taking it as a yes, I put my arm around her and pulled her in close. My chest ached when I felt how bad she was trembling.

“I don’t like this red, it’s weird.” Severa announced, forsaking the crayon she was holding.

I shifted through the pile of crayons on the coffee table. “Is this shade better?”

She nodded and took it with both hands. 

“You can’t bend to her will, Sumia.” Cordelia muttered into my shoulder.

“But I do agree, it was a weird shade.” I laughed. “She knows what she wants.”

“Cordelia.” Lucina said as she worked on her coloring. “Why do you own a cafe?”

“I went to school for cooking and I just really like coffee.” She answered. I could tell that she wasn’t giving Lucina the same enthusiasm that she usual did, but I also felt that Lucina understood why.

“I want to work in an office like my dad.” She said proudly.

“But will you work your way to CEO as well?” Cordelia asked. I didn’t think I had mentioned that Chrom’s position, but maybe I had mentioned it before, or one of the girls.

“Maybe I’ll take Robin’s position.” I laughed at that proposition and made sure to take a mental note to tell my friend to watch out. Cordelia cuddled in closer to me, wrapping both her arms around my torso. I continued to rub my hand in circles on her back on shoulder. 

By the time I had finished my picture, both the girls and Cordelia seemed ready to go to bed. Cordelia’s eyes kept closing and her grip loosening. My stomach was still in knots over how she felt, but I didn’t want to question her. Especially not in front of the children. 

“Mommy?” Cynthia yawned. “Can we read a princess story tonight?”

“Sure.” I smiled, sitting up slowly enough to not scare Cordelia. “Severa, do you like princess stories?”

The little girl nodded. I gathered them up and left all the drawings on the table. “Cordelia, do you want to read with us as well?”

She pressed her lips together before shaking her head. “I’ll just stay out here.” 

Lucina, Cynthia, and Severa followed me into my daughters’ bedroom. The walls were white, as per the rental contract I couldn’t paint them, and the floor was littered with toys from Chrom. I wrestled Cynthia under the covers of her ‘big girl bed’, then watched Severa join her under the blankets without a fight. I was surprised that she even wanted to sleep in the same bed.

It didn’t take long into the picture book for both of the girls to have their eyes heavy with sleep. Lucina sat on the edge of the bed with me, occasionally chiming as the role of a character. I kissed the two girls on the top of the forehead and officially tucked them in. I did the same for my oldest daughter and turned my attention to the door. Cordelia was leaning on the doorframe, watching the whole thing as if there was a sheet of glass and she wasn’t welcome to come in.

I turned off the light and quietly closed the door behind me.

“Am I a bad mom?” Cordelia asked with the click. 

“No.” I responded. “Who would say that? You’re always so caring with the girls.”

“I don’t read Severa to bed.” She said, a frown on her face. “Or color with her. Or even just hang out with her one on one.”

Cordelia said it more to herself than anything. We took our seat on the couch in silence. The room was barely lit by a single lamp. It was cold like my house always was during the winter. I could see how much was on my friend’s mind just by looking at her, yet I still didn’t know what to do.

“Do you want to talk about what happened, or just other things?”

“Other things.”

“How was your date?”

“Fucking horrible, not the reason I’m crying, though.”

“That’s good.” I smiled. “Not that it was horrible, but the fact that it wasn’t heartbreaking enough to make you cry.”

“It was not the worst. I just had someone else on my mind. What was your worst date ever?” She closed her eyes and leaned her head on my shoulder. 

I thought for a second. “Towards the end of my marriage when I was heavily pregnant, me and Chrom had a fight in a restaurant. It was mortifying and everyone was giving me such sympathetic looks as I started crying at the table. You?”

“I’m going to punch that man one day.” She sighed. “My worst date must have been when the person’s ex showed up and cried about how there was still love between them. Then I got ditched after watching them make out.”

“I can’t imagine anyone rejecting you.” I snuggled in closer to her, closing my own eyes. “They’re stupid.”

“I can’t imagine anyone divorcing you. He’s going to hell.” She let out a hollow laugh. “You have to have had plenty of boys swooping in after you were free from that.”

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same person.” I said. “I haven’t been on a single date since.”

“My success to failure ratio is to be pitied, going on dates isn’t that great.” Cordelia sighed. “I should put that I have a daughter on my dating profile.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Was your pick up line the surprise of telling them you’re a mom.”

“It didn’t work, obviously.” She readjusted and wrapped her arms around my waist and resting her head on my chest. If she heard my heart, she didn’t mention that it sounded like it was going to malfunction. “You really haven’t been on a single date since?”

I shook my head. “And you? I’ve always wondered if you’ve been in a serious relationship, just because you talk like you haven’t.”

“I guess the last long term relationship I was in was almost two years ago?” She frowned. “It ended horribly, so I guess I was just not too eager to jump into another.”

“I’m sorry.” I said honestly. “I didn’t mean to make you upset by asking.”

“It’s fine, I’ve just had a lot on my mind. A lot of questions that I’ve been meaning to ask.” The conversation kept on twisting and turning, as if Cordelia’s mind was on shuffle. But if it meant helping her, I didn’t mind.

“Ask away.” I said.

“Sumia, why did you stop calling me when we went to college?” Her voice was quiet. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.” I responded quickly. “I just got in my head that everyone didn’t like me, I guess. So I deleted everything to try to get a fresh start.”

“It hurt.” Cordelia said bluntly. “I ended up visiting your mom because I was scared that something bad happened. She said that you were fine and I just remember not being able to decide if that was the answer I wanted or not.”

I leaned back into the couch. “I’m sorry. I knew you had so many friends, so I thought you wouldn’t notice. You were the only one out of all of our friend group who called and I didn’t have the heart to pick up.”

Cordelia’s grip on me tightened. “Sometimes I want to hurt you. You mean so much to me and you just sit there and act like you don’t. It sucks.”

“I’m sorry.” I said once more, holding her closer. “I don’t mean to.”

“You’re so tough on yourself, you know? I just want you to look in a mirror and see how amazing you are for once.”

I stayed silent, because I knew that I would only upset her more if I argued. Because I wasn’t amazing, couldn’t she see that?

“I hope whoever made you cry like this pays.” I whispered.

“I don’t. I just hope she learns to accept me.” Cordelia responded. “It was an argument with my mom.” Her voice was barely behind the words. “It was so horrible that I got physically sick afterwards.”

“I wish I could help you more.” I didn’t want to ask her what they were fighting about. How it ended.

“This is more than enough.” Cordelia finally relaxed completely into my embrace, I could tell she was exhausted. “I should head off to bed now.”

“Do you want to sleep in my room? I don’t mind taking the couch.”

“I’m not going to have this fight.” Cordelia shook her head. “We’re grown ass women, let’s just share the bed.”

“Okay, goodnight then. I need to stay up for a bit to clean up.

“So Severa gets goodnight kisses and I don’t?” Cordelia’s voice was playful, but laced with exhaustion. She unwrapped herself from me. “What kind of world do we live in?”

I leaned on her, peppering little pecks on her cheek and temple. “Is that better?” I asked with a smile and Cordelia turned to face me. Moments passed, her eyes reflecting in the dim light of the lamp. Our gazes met one another’s and then our lips. Neither of us initiated it, but it felt like the natural thing to do.

Her hands moved to my waist while mine moved to her neck. I lost myself to the kiss. Cordelia was forceful, but not in a way that made me want to shy away. Instead, it encouraged me to kiss back just as strongly.

We parted, our noses brushing. It was the first time I had been kissed since my divorce and I didn’t want to leave it just like that. I pulled her close once more. I felt immediately comfortable with the situation. I didn’t feel extremely nervous like I had the first time I kissed Chrom, where I was wishing to just get it over with. Cordelia pulled on my waist until I was in her lap and straddling her. I felt slightly more in control with the height advantage, something I had never experienced.

Cordelia pulled away, but this time her hands flew up to cover her face and she hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

“Cordelia.” I said, my euphoria quickly erasing itself into confusion and concern. “It’s okay.”

“There’s too much going on right now.” She quickly explained, but her voice was tightening. “I’m emotionally everywhere.”

“It’s okay.” I moved my hands to her arms, rubbing small circles on her skin. “It’s okay, we don’t have to deal with this now or even talk about it, just leave it for later if it’s too much.”

“I’m a horrible fucking person.” Her final bit of resolve finally crumbled. Her entire body was wracked with sobs as she cried into her hands. Years of me never even seeing her eyes water. I didn’t know what to do, so I just wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to my chest.

“You are not.” I insisted. “Please talk if you need to, but I also don’t mind if you just need to cry.”

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

I held her tighter. “Don’t worry, okay? Just don’t worry.”

“There’s no way for me to not worry.” She said. “I can’t just screw you over like this.”

“It’s just a kiss, it can mean as little or as much as you want.”

“Sumia, I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“Scared of what my mom said. Scared that I just kissed you like that. I’m scared that you don’t love me, but I’m more afraid if you do.”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I just continued to hush her. “You’re really exhausted. Let’s go to bed and figure out what to do in the morning.”

“I fucking hate myself.” Cordelia was still buried in my arms.

“You shouldn’t.” I whispered. “Sleep now, figure the rest out later.” It took a while, but she finally listened. She looked at me with mourning eyes as I showed her to my bedroom. I expected some sort of clever remark, but she silently got into bed and kept to the corner as much as she could.

All the knots that I had finally gotten rid of were coming back. I just wanted to make things better for her, to the point where the kiss wasn’t bothering me. Looking at Cordelia curled up and buried in the pillows, I knew that it was wrong for me to kiss her like that. At least for tonight, she needed comfort and a distraction. I felt a pain in my heart knowing that I just made everything a bit harder for her.

I promised her I would come back to bed, but I instead passed on out on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your patience! Life has just been busy (between my birthday and starting college I'm exhausted whoops), and I hope any of you starting school work hard (even though reading fanfic all day is very tempting)!


	8. Chapter 8

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to sleep on the couch. I had forgotten that the worn piece of furniture wasn’t good for long-time exposure. I sat up, wincing as my back cracked from the motion. The digital clock displayed in red that it was already six forty in the morning.

Well, here was the  _ tomorrow _ that I kept promising Cordelia. I gave so many promises of figuring it out later, but in reality, I still had no clue what to do. There was something so undeniably off about her behavior and I knew I had made it worse my kissing her. Or maybe she kissed me? Either way, I shouldn’t have let it happen.

_ One step at a time _ . I had remind myself. And that first step was realizing that the girls had to be at their respective schools by 7:30. That being said, I didn’t even know when Severa had to be at her preschool. I grabbed my phone and called Olivia, since she was on schedule to open the cafe this morning. “Good morning.” She greeted. “What’s up?”

I cleared my throat, yawning in the process.. “What time does Severa have to be at school?”

“7:15.” She answered immediately. “Why?”

“Her and Cordelia are at my house.” I got up with a renewed sense of urgency.

“Um.” She paused. “Why are they at your house?”

I wasn’t sure where Cordelia was with telling other people what happened and I didn’t want to go around advertising that she had a shit day. “They slept over, but Cordelia was exhausted so I’m just going to let her sleep for a while.”

“So.” Olivia had an amused tone in her voice. “You’re saying that Cordelia slept over and you completely exhausted her. Do I get the full story or can I just go on my assumptions?”

“Olivia.” I said. “I’m hanging up now.”

“I’ll see you at work.” She sounded cheerful, but I knew I was in for endless teasing once I got there. My eyes darted across the room when I heard a door open. Lucina quietly crept out of her room and I sighed in relief that I didn’t have to deal with Cordelia just yet.

“Mom,” she greeted with a smile, running up to hug me, “good morning.”

“Good morning, sweetie. I love you.” I kissed Lucina’s head. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Can you make french toast?” Her face lit up. On school mornings I usually stuck with cereal, but I had two more to account for. I didn’t want to greet Cordelia’s shitty night with a sad breakfast.

“That’s fine with me. Is your sister up?”

“No, but Severa is.” Lucina followed me into the kitchen, where I started getting out a pan while trying to not make loud noises. “Is Cordelia okay?”

“I hope so.” I took milk and eggs out of the fridge and checked that I had enough bread. “Did Cynthia exhaust Severa too much?”

“Maybe. But they didn’t fight or anything.” Lucina sat down at the counter to watch me cook. “You didn’t even change into pajamas.”

I looked at my jeans and t-shirt and laughed. “Yikes. What would I do if you didn’t take care of your mother?”

“I want to visit your new job!” Lucina cheered and I hushed her, pointing in the direction of the bedrooms. She lowered her voice. “Maybe I can try some coffee.”

“You wouldn’t like it.” I giggled. “It’s bitter.”

“So why do you like it?”

I considered her question. “Good point. It keeps me awake? But I’ll see if you can come and visit after school someday. We also have hot chocolate or you might even like tea.”

I cooked up the french toast while chatting with Lucina about her school friends and friends from tennis. It was hard to put in words how proud I am of this little girl. 

Putting the first plate of finished french toast in front of her, I patted her head and went to wake up Cynthia and possibly rescue Severa. Opening the door, Cynthia was still passed out in bed while Severa sat and stared at her from the other bed.

“Good morning, Severa. Your mom is still asleep, but I made you breakfast.” I offered her my hand, but she just wordlessly got out of bed and stood next to me as I got my daughter up. While Lucina religiously got up early, Cynthia always wanted to sleep in and stayed in bed until the last minute.

I got them both sitting at the counter and made  them both a slice of the toast each. I cut it up with a fork, not wanting to take the time to supervise them with knives. “Why is Cynthia always so loud?” Severa asked, looking me dead in the eyes.

I laughed. “She just is. Not a bad thing. Eat up, I need to shower.”

I left the girls around the table and went straight to the bathroom. My hair was a disaster, but I didn’t have time to deal with it. I tied the knotted strands into a haphazard bun and took a quick shower. The water wasn’t even warmed up by the time I was turning it off and wrapping myself in a towel.

Cracking the door open slowly, Cordelia was now sitting up in my bed. I knew that the shower probably woke her up, since it was right on the other side of the bathroom wall. I subconsciously held the towel closer to myself. “Hey, good morning.”

She averted her eyes, biting her lip. “Good morning.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

I walked over to my dresser and began to put clothes on without letting the towel fall, trying to keep myself covered at all times. “I already have the girls eating breakfast. I know I’ll probably be late but I’m going to drop them off before going to work.”

“Oh fuck.” Cordelia muttered. “What time is it? I’m such an asshole.”

I finished putting a pair of jeans on. “No, no, no.” I said quickly, turning to her. “I didn’t wake you up on purpose. Stay and sleep, then when you wake up just help yourself to the shower or clothes or anything. I put aside a plate for you.”

“I’m really sorry about this.” She leaned further into the pillows. “I’m a disaster.”

“It’s nothing to worry about.” I tried my best to smile, but I was sure that it was not convincing. “It’s not a bad thing to let others take care of you.”

“No, I’m sorry about last night, too.” She frowned, looking at me as if to gauge my reaction. “That kiss.”

I felt my face flush. Curse not ever being able to keep my cool around Cordelia. “Yeah.” I settled on. I didn’t want to tell her how much I liked kissing her. How would do anything for it to happen again. Some part of me didn’t want to throw my heart on the floor in front of her because I had a deep feeling she would shatter it.

“I--” she began, stopped. She started again. “I have a certain… dependency on people. I’m really sorry that I brought you into that.”

“You were having a really rough night.” I tried to comfort her, while hearing clearly the subtext of  _ I didn’t want to kiss you _ . “And if that was the comfort you needed, I don’t mind.”

“I think I’m using you, Sumia.” She said, looking straight at me. I shifted from foot to foot. I certainly did feel used, but I saw the bigger picture. I knew that it wasn’t her intention. “I think I have been for months.”

“As I said: you had a rough night.” I repeated. “Don’t worry about me too much right now, try to work out what happened with that person.” I started out the door. “I’m going to finish getting the girls ready, will you be okay?”

She nodded slowly and I thought she was going to respond to what I said, but only mouthed “okay.”

Closing the door carefully behind me, I rounded up the girls back into their bedroom and started setting out clothes. Lucina was abysmal at matching, regardless of her eleventh birthday coming up. I knew Severa would be able to fit into Cynthia’s clothes okay enough, so I got to work. By the time I was tying up Severa’s pigtails (she had insisted on them) I was already a good five minutes late.

I hated being the mom who brought their children everywhere late, but it had to suffice for today. Even once I thought I was ready, I had to move Severa’s car seat into my own car because I didn’t want to risk it. 

After dropping the girls off at school I went straight to the cafe. I still didn’t eat or even have coffee yet. It was quite the crime. I was drained just walking in to  _ begin _ my shift.

“Oh thank god you’re here.” The cafe was busier than I had ever seen it and both Olivia and Cherche were running around filling orders. I threw my jacket onto the hooks and washed my hands, getting straight to work. None of us were even stationed at the cash register, the three of us kept on switching off and shuffling back and forth.

“It’s a friday.” Cherche explained. “We tend to be really busy. I heard about your little sleepover.” She winked at me.

“There’s nothing going on.” I said, balancing two coffees in one hand. “It was for the girls.”

“Okay…” Cherche didn’t believe me. I was already too tired to argue.

“Is Cordelia going to get in trouble if I dropped Severa off late?” I asked. “Here’s your coffee. Have a nice day.” I handed over the drinks.

“She might, the nuns aren’t the biggest fan of her.” Olivia responded instead. “It shouldn’t matter, since they’re going into public school after the year is over.”

The rush subsided in time and Cordelia walked in. I recognized that she was wearing one of my sweaters and a pair of leggings. I could feel my brain short circuit because she was in  _ my _ clothes. Her eyes still looked tired, but she was making her best effort to look awake. “Sorry that I’m late.”

I drummed my fingers nervously on the counter. As much as I had told Cordelia that it would be okay, I was worried about where our friendship stood. Even more than that, about what she was so upset about the night before.

“Enjoyed yourself too much last night?” Olivia said and Cordelia shot her a look.

“Olivia.” She said and it almost shocked me how serious she sounded. “I’m not in the mood for that, okay? Cut it out.”

Olivia’s smile faded. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine… just, stop.” Cordelia tied her apron on. Cherche sobered up behind the counter as well and we all fell into silence.

“I dropped Severa off late, I’m sorry.” I said, helping Cordelia to put back all the syrups that we had thrown everywhere. “I wanted you to get enough sleep.”

“You don’t have to do this much for me.”

“You do the same for me.” I pointed out, trying not to get distracted by the sweater that was a bit too large on her. 

“These mugs are a mess.” Her eyes darted to the counter behind me. I looked and they were barely out of place, just shuffled from the rush. “I’m going to fix them.”

“Okay.” I tried to keep myself from sounding to skeptical. “I’ll work on the cash register.” I said, but I was steadily getting a headache. Everything was getting to be too much. Being completely late, confused, and trying to cheer up Cordelia all at once. I took my place at the counter in an effort to avoid further conversation. I opened up the cash register and organized the bills that got shuffled around in the rush. Cherche had a bad habit of just stuffing the dollars wherever.

I glanced up at Cordelia. She was leaning on the counter as the other two chatted with one another. She had a far away look in her eyes, glancing towards the window. She kept shifting her weight from foot to foot. I watched in almost slow motion as she absentmindedly ran her hand on the counter. A ceramic mug toppled to the tile.

Wincing at the sound of the shattering, I turned to help pick it up.

“Fuck.” Cordelia cursed. She bent over and began to quickly pick up the pieces. She cut herself on a shard.

“Cordelia.” I said, squatting down to her level and grabbing her wrist to stop her. “It’s okay. Deep breath and we’ll get a broom.”

She hesitated, before the small pieces she had collected clinked to the floor. We stood together and she wiped the blood from her finger. “I’m sorry.”

“Everything is good, it’s just a cup.” I said. “I just didn’t want you to get hurt from the sharp edges.”

“Cordelia, is everything okay?” Olivia asked, handing her a towel for her finger and placing an arm around her. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t feel well, just go home.”

“No, no.” Cordelia started, a distracted look on her face. “Guys, I’m fine.”

“We can all tell that you’re not and that’s not a bad thing.” Olivia continued.

“I’m getting a broom.” She pushed away from her friend and headed towards the supply closet.

“Sumia.” Cherche said, before nodding her head in the direction of Cordelia. “Please go help her out.”

“Hey, no making out in the back room.” Olivia teased. She said it quietly, but Cordelia heard it anyways.

Cordelia stopped in her tracks and whipped around. “Shut the fuck up, Olivia.”

It shocked me. I had never seen Cordelia angry before, but she had such a cutting look in her eyes that I was a bit scared.

“Hey.” Cherche stepped in. “You do not talk to her like that. At all.”

Cordelia’s face softened and she looked between the three of us, lacing her fingers together. “I’m sorry.”

“How about you just head home?” Cherche’s lips were set in a frown. “I have a feeling things aren’t going to go well if you stay.”

“Fine.” Cordelia’s tone was almost apologetic, except it turned upwards with a bite. She shoved on her jacket.

“Be careful driving home.” I said, my stomach dropping with the realization that there was still nothing I could do to help. “And call me if you need anything.”

She nodded and took off.


	9. Chapter 9

“Hey girlies!” Cordelia greeted at the door, addressing my two daughters. “Severa is already in the living room ready for the movie.”

“Cordelia.” I said with a smile. Even though we had barely talked over the weekend, she seemed to have recovered somewhat from Friday’s events. I was genuinely surprised to receive a movie invite from her, since Olivia told me she refused to take any shifts over the weekend. Of course, Olivia was mad because that meant her and Cherche had to take Inigo with them to work and I still had my other job on weekends. My shift earlier in the day was just Cherche and I, still no sign of Cordelia.

“I’ll just get them set up with popcorn.” She gave a gentle squeeze of my shoulder as I shut the door behind me, the girls already scuttering to the living room. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” I asked, confused. She nodded and went into the kitchen. It smelt of popcorn, almost like a movie theatre. Cordelia had small bowls out of different candies and was finishing it up with a larger bowl for the popcorn. Severa had scooted over on the couch so Lucina and Cynthia could join her. The lights were dimmed and a cartoon on the menu screen. “You’re so cute.”

Cordelia laughed, placing the bowls on the coffee table for the girls. “How else am I going to keep up with your Pinterest-mom aesthetic? Now let’s head upstairs.”

I had never been upstairs in her house, where I could only assume the bedrooms were. Her home was a mansion compared to mine. She led me up the open stairwell, which was beginning to be lined with family photos. I smiled at a picture of her and Severa wearing matching Christmas pajamas. Another was at what was presumably Olivia and Cherche’s wedding. Cherche was dressed in a suit with her bride in a white sundress. Cordelia was smiling next to Cherche, holding both Inigo and Severa.

I missed the next stair, distracted by the pictures. I slipped, but Cordelia caught my wrist and kept me upright.

“Woah there.” She smiled at me. “No injuries in this house.”

“You’re stairs are slippery.” I said.

“I believe they’re fine, you’re just not good at staying on your feet.” Cordelia laughed at my frown, before slipping her hand that was on my wrist into my own. I blushed as she led me up the stairs. I missed her touch. It was silly, considering how I had only gone a weekend without contact. I still couldn’t ignore my worry. She couldn’t keep pretending that nothing had happened, right?

“Okay, so here’s my project.” She turned the light on in a bedroom. It was set up as an office of sorts, but there was an abundance of boxes scattered around the room. “I’ve been just moving these photos from house to house without knowing what’s even in the boxes.”

My eyes widened. “These are all photos.”

“I don’t trust computers to keep all of them, so I wanted to also print them out.” She let go of my hand, sitting cross legged on the carpet. I followed suit, our knees touching. “This whole box is from high school.”

“Oh god, no.” I groaned. “Do I really need to remember what I disaster I was?”

“They aren’t  _ that _ cringy.” She laughed, opening the box. The photos weren’t in neat stacks, rather thrown in a haphazard pile. She plucked something off the top, a newspaper clipping. It was a picture of Cordelia addressing the crowd during her valedictorian speech. Her hair was considerably shorter, but otherwise she looked almost identical to the woman sitting next to me.

“It’s easy for you to say that they aren’t cringy  _ valedictorian _ .” I teased. She shrugged, folding the paper.

“Oh! Here’s us!” She said, shuffling through the photos until she picked up one from prom. I shook my head at the dress I was wearing.

“Jesus Christ, I used to be so skinny.” I commented. “Other than that, I look like trash. What was I thinking?”

Cordelia didn’t laugh that that comment. Instead, she just stared at me. “You didn’t.”

I vaguely pointed at the picture. “But look at me.”

“Sumia.” She said in a warning tone. “I don’t like when you say stuff like that. You do it all the time and it’s just not true.”

“I looked like shit like I always do. Especially when you looked so perfect all dressed up like that.”

“You don’t look like shit.” Cordelia was now frowning. “You looked so pretty that day. I remember watching your curls bounced under the lights and it was magical.”

“I… “ I trailed off, wanting to argue. There was no way that’s what she was thinking that night or even now. “I was seriously nothing compared to you.”

“Fucking hell, take a compliment.” Cordelia raised her voice slightly and I jumped. She saw my expression and lowered her voice. “I’m sorry. Sumia, it’s just that you always do this to me. It’s hard for me to hear. You’re such a stunning woman and you just keep putting yourself down.”

“I just don’t understand what you think you see in me.” I said with an equal amount of force. I didn’t know why I was fighting, there was no reason to. It’s just that every single time I heard something nice to me, I needed to contradict it.

“Your eyes.”

“What?”

“They catch the light of the room. It’s like there’s thousands of shades of brown laced through them and it’s stunning to look at.” Cordelia put the picture back down in the box. “And your voice. It’s so sweet and I love it when you say my name, it has always made me happy.”

I stared at her, unsure how to respond. The way she said those things about me felt almost like poetry that only the worst critic would dare to insult.

“Self confidence isn’t something I can give you.” She said, flipping through a handful of pictures. “But I want to be the one to remind you to be kind to yourself.”

“I’m sorry.” I said.

She ignored my apology, instead showing me another picture. “This was so much fun.”

I smiled at the memory. The two of us dressed in sweaters holding freshly picked pumpkins. “Oh my god, isn’t this the first day that I had my license.”

Cordelia nodded, resting her head on my shoulder. “There were barely any pumpkins in the patch because no one ever goes for Thanksgiving, but you were insistent.”

Her phone that was on the ground began to ring. I looked at the caller ID: mom. Cordelia turned off the ring and flipped her phone facedown. The tension returned.

“Do you want to talk about what happened between you two?”

Cordelia looked down at the ground, twisting pieces of her hair through her fingers. “I told her that I liked women. I knew she was going to react poorly, but knowing it and experiencing it are two different demons.”

“Cordelia, I’m so sorry.” I felt a pit growing in my stomach.

“She told me I was going to hell--that I wasn’t fit to be a mother.” I could see her hands begin to shake. “The funny thing is I don’t believe in any of that, but it still makes me feel sick.”

“It’s because it’s coming from your own mother.” I said, gently placing my hand on top of hers. “That’s enough to hurt most. Do you want a hug?”

She nodded and buried her face into my shoulder. I turned towards her, making sure I could hold her as close as possible. “I feel numb.”

“Even if you don’t have her support, you have so many others who are willing to give it to you.” I said and rubbed her back. “Olivia, Cherche, me, our children.”

“Olivia hates me.” She mumbled.

“She doesn’t hate you.” I promised. “You just snapped at her, she’ll get over it.”

“She has in the past, the question is how much is she willing to put up with?” Cordelia whispered. “I’m scared, Sumia. I’ve been so horrible to all of you.”

“It was just one mistake, it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” I promised.

“You really are beautiful.” Cordelia said, unwrapping herself from my hug. “You’re just a beautiful person on the inside, too.”

Her phone started vibrating on the ground again and we both stared at it.

“Maybe you should pick up?” I said. “Maybe she changed her mind?”

Cordelia sighed picking up the phone and holding it in her hands. “I guess it’s not something I can ignore.”

“Do you want me to leave the room?”

She shook her head, “I want you to stay.” She pressed the answer button and held the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

I wanted to make her mother pay for reducing the ever-confident Cordelia to such a small voice. I slipped my hand into hers, rubbing small circles with my thumb. I couldn’t hear what her mother was saying, only mumbles of a conversation.

“No mom, I’m sure.” Cordelia leaned into my shoulder. “What I told you was something I was sitting on for my whole life.”

I was happy for her talking so calmly, despite how stiff she felt. It was honest bravery.

“I’m not dating anyone right now, but I felt like I had to come out. I was never able to tell you about my other relationships and it was unfair to the girl I was dating. There’s someone that I really care about right now and I didn’t want to make the same mistakes.”

I couldn’t hear her mother’s response, but it couldn’t have been good as Cordelia shrunk closer and closer into me. I gripped her hand tighter.

“Goodbye, Mom. I love you.”

I didn’t hear the response on the other end, just the sound of a call dropping.

Cordelia looked at me, tears in her eyes. “She’s trying to understand, but she says she can’t. I don’t get what there is to understand.”

“Come here.” I whispered, once again wrapping both my arms around her. “I can’t explain how strong you are for trying.”

“But I’m not strong. I’m letting this get to me. There’s kids who have it worse and get kicked out or killed.”

“It’s not a competition of pain.” I said. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I can’t keep hurting the people around me.” She wiped away the tears that were close to falling.

“Did you tell Cherche and Olivia about what’s going on? I’m sure that they would want to help--they would understand.”

“It would make things worse.” Cordelia bit her lip. “I think it would hurt Olivia.”

We sat in the silence as I didn’t dare ask why Olivia would be hurt by all of this. We just cuddled into one another, still surrounded by all the boxes of memories.

“I liked girls in high school, too.” She said, breaking the silence. “I always liked girls. And I’m mad that she’s making me feel like that’s something I should be ashamed of.”

“Don’t be ashamed of it, ever.” I said.

“Are you out?” Cordelia asked.

“I don’t know if I’m gay.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh shit. I just thought--”

“It’s fine.” I could feel my entire face flushing. I looked away. “I just know that I really like you.”

“To be honest, I feel like an asshole.” She said.

“Please don’t.” I could feel my heart beating out of control with how nervous I was. “I never thought about liking another woman until we started hanging out again. And I didn’t even know if you liked girls, either.” Why was I saying any of this?

“Sumia.” She said, pulling away from me. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want us to be having this conversation right now. I care about you  _ a lot _ . I promise. But, with all this going on I don’t want to drag you into it.”

“I can help you.”

“There’s things that I have to do alone.” She said, looking down at the carpet. “I know that it’s selfish, but I don’t want to hurt you. I want to be on the same page so I don’t play with your feelings.”

“I’m your friend above everything.” I said, placing my hand on her knee. “And if that’s the support you need, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.” She said, getting up from the floor before helping me up. “Let’s go check on the girls.”

I followed her downstairs, watching her from behind. There were so many unanswered questions. Why did she feel like she was using me? Why was she so convinced that telling Olivia about coming out would piss her off?

“Hey, who knows that you’re gay?” I asked before making it downstairs. “I don’t want to be outing you.”

“Mostly just Olivia, Cherche, and the kids.”  She paused and added with a grin. “And all the girls I take on dates. You can tell Lucina and Cynthia if you want, or anyone else I guess now. Even though how my mom reacted hurts, I feel kind of free now. That it’s all out there and I don’t need to hide anymore.”

“That’s nice.” I said with a genuine smile. “Was it hard to talk to Severa about it?”

She laughed. “It’s easier to tell children, they aren’t biased at all. I was just like, ‘Mommy likes women like most moms like their husbands’ and she basically ignored me.”

“That sounds like her.” I smiled. We walked into the living room where the girls were tucked up watching their movie. “What’s up, sweetie pies?”

I was promptly hushed by Cynthia. Her and Severa were sharing a bowl of candy and I smiled gently at them. Cordelia slipped onto the couch next to them and patting the cushion. I joined her, curling into her.

She laughed lightly, wrapping an arm around me. It felt like the night we were cuddled together at the play on metal chairs. Except, Cordelia was much more touchy. Her one hand was on my waist, the other running her nails on my lap. Our legs were intertwined at the ankles. It felt right, but at the same time… it was strange. Sitting here like this but being too afraid to kiss her, unsure of what boundaries she just put up between us. It scared me in a way and I couldn’t figure out if I was right to feel like that.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick trigger warning for talk of suicidal thoughts, hospitalization, and mental-health related themes.  
> Not rough, but better safe than sorry.

“I’m sorry to come to you like this.” Olivia said the second I opened the door. She was dressed in sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt with no makeup. Strange, considering she was supposed to be at the cafe. “Can you pick Severa and Inigo up from school at the end of the day?”

My eyes widened. “What’s wrong, what happened?”

“It’s nothing dire.” I relaxed for a moment, before Olivia continued. “Cordelia’s getting admitted to the psychiatric ER and I was going with her to help with paperwork stuff, but Cherche needs to keep the cafe open.”

“Wait.” I grabbed her arm. “Holy shit, is everything okay? What happened?”

Olivia sighed. She looked tired, but I couldn’t stop the fear that was quickly weaving its way into my chest. “She wanted me to tell you. It’s just that her medication was giving her some bad side effects and wasn’t working the way it should. She was feeling self destructive, so she decided it was better safe than sorry to get immediate help and hopefully get her meds adjusted.”

I felt like someone was stabbing me. “But is she okay?”

Olivia answered with kind of shrug. “As I said, she’s just not in the best mental mindset. I wouldn’t say she’s okay, but it’s the sort of ups and downs that she’s used to dealing with. I’m really sorry to be dumping this all on you, but I guess that’s why I wanted to do it in person.”

“It’s fine, I would do anything to help.” I said, but my brain was still spinning.

“I’ll call the school and tell them who you are, you’ll just have to give your name and probably show them ID.” Olivia rattled on, as if going through a mental checklist. “They get picked up in about an hour--two thirty. I’m leaving now to drive Cordelia, check her in and make sure she’s settled. Hopefully I can pick them up later tonight and Cordelia should be out in a couple of days, so we just need to adjust the work schedule from there.”

“How are you not panicking?” I asked, practically spit out the words.

Olivia shrugged. “I know that there’s nothing more I can do except make sure she gets some professional help. She’s lucky enough to have enough money and the right insurance to have medication, so of course I’m worried, but I wouldn’t be helping anyone if I was panicking.” She paused. “Are you sure you’re okay to get the kids, it wouldn’t be the end of the world to just close the cafe and have Cherche home?”

I took a deep breath. “It’s really fine.”

“Sumia.” She offered a smile. “It’s going to be okay, just likely a medication adjustment. I’m sure Cordelia will tell you more about it when she gets back. Believe me, this is the best course of action that we have available.”

I returned a tense smile. “Okay, tell her I’m rooting for her.” I almost said love, but the words died in my throat.

“I will.” Olivia turned to leave. “If you change your mind, text me and I’ll just send Cherche home to get the kids.”

Nodding, I closed the door and wandered back into the kitchen. “Ah, shit.” I said to myself, trying to calm my breathing. I wanted to cry. Just the thought of not being able to help Cordelia, that she didn’t even want to tell me what was going on, hurt. I was scared for her.

It took all of my will to not get my phone out to call her. I knew that it wouldn’t help, most likely just make things harder for her. I wanted to be able to hug her and tell her that it would be okay.

By the time I had managed to completely calm myself down and finished pre-making the dinners I had started, it was time to get all of the kids. I was tempted to call Cherche and give up, but I felt like it was my responsibility to be able to help.

I picked up Inigo and Severa first, since I knew I would need to be checked for identity. They looked awfully adorable in their uniforms. I explained to them that they would be with me for today and luckily neither of them asked questions. Not as inquisitive as my two girls.

“Are we picking up Cynthia?” Severa asked when I got her into the car.

“Her and Lucina.” I said. “You two can play together, just make sure to include Inigo.”

“You’re hair is very pretty.” Inigo said staring at me. I knew Olivia had mentioned something about telling him to compliment girls so that he wouldn’t grow up as shy as his mother. Part of me believed that, the other part of me knew it was Cherche’s scheme to turn the whole family into ‘lady-killers’ or something similar.

“Thank you.” I smiled, but I felt my stomach sinking. How was I supposed to watch all four of them? Usually when it was my turn to stay home instead of working at the cafe, I already had toys or a craft set up. Hell, I barely had enough food at my house.

I pulled out of the parking spot and towards Cynthia’s school. This was poorly thought out. What was I doing?

“Hey, Inigo.” I said, passing my phone back towards the consol. “Can you please go into my contacts and call Robin?”

He gladly took up the phone. It barely fit in his small hands. I assumed he would be able to use it, since he spent most of his time on the iPad. I had guessed accurately, because in no time the call was dialing on the Bluetooth.

“Hello, you reached--” I pressed the button to hang up on the steering wheel. I had to leave the car to get Cynthia, who was lined up at the front door of the preschool. By the time I was back behind the wheel, I had decided on another plan.

“Inigo, now can you call Chrom? C-h-r-o-m.” I spelt out the name. Part of me wanted him to not pick up. The other part of me knew I couldn’t do it alone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Chrom.” I said, trying not to let my stress show too much. “I’m in the car with three toddlers and I would like to ask for a favor?”

“Hi Daddy!” Cynthia cheered from the back seat.

“Hi Cynthia,” he greeted, “what’s the favor?”

“Do you mind if I come to your house for maybe an hour? Just to get my bearings. I’m picking up Lucina right now, too.”

I could hear him considering it in silence.

“Oh, we’re going to daddy’s?” Cynthia asked excitedly. It was almost as if I had bribed her into guilting her father.

“Sure, I’ll see you soon.” He hung up before I could even say thank you.

I parked the car in front of Lucina’s school and she came out within a few minutes.

“Hey, sweetie.” I greeted as she buckled herself up in the back. “We’re all going to your dad’s house to hang out.”

“Is everything okay?” Lucina frowned. None of the other kids were paying attention. “You look upset.”

“I’m a bit, but everything should be okay.” I said, with a smile. “Thank you.”

I was sure that there would be a time where I would explain to Lucina what was happening. Even if it wasn’t full detail, I knew that she would be mature enough to use it as a learning lesson of sorts. By the time I pulled up Chrom’s driveway, I already felt relieved that I wouldn’t be the only one looking after the children.

I rang the doorbell and waited on the steps of my old home. The door swung open.

“How did you end up with four small children?” He asked, watching the parade come in.

“My friend had something come up, so I offered to watch them.” I said, closing the door behind me. I almost tripped over the pile of shoes that they had strewn about.

“Luci,” Chrom said, “how about you take everyone to the playroom?” And just like that, all the children disappeared.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, watching me fight to get my shoe off my own foot.

“Just a bit overwhelmed with everything.” I said, looking away from him.

“I can tell there’s something else bothering you. You never come to me for help.”

“My friend got admitted into the psychiatric ER, okay?” I snapped at him, but kept my voice down to guarantee that the children didn’t hear me.

“Come and sit down.” Chrom ushered me into the living room. “You don’t have to talk, but I’m open to listen if you need to get it off your chest.”

I set myself onto the couch, keeping my hands in my lap. It was weird coming into the living room, I didn’t think I had sat down in the room for four or five years. Whenever we had paperwork to fill out, I just went to his office rather than the home. Picking up the kids or dropping them off, I would only hang in the foyer. Most of the family parties were outdoors or held at event venues. The living room reminded me of Christmas morning, with the girls surrounded and sitting in piles of torn wrapping paper. 

“I didn’t do anything.” I said, not breaking eye contact with a small knot of wood on the coffee table. “I didn’t even know she was having a problem and now she’s in the hospital.”

“Sumia, then you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I should have done  _ something _ .” I said, balling up my fists.

“It’s not that simple.” Chrom said. “She was trying to help herself alone, that’s not your fault. And she did get proper help when she knew it was getting to be too much. Plenty of people admit themselves to the ER to prevent something from happening instead of doing something rash.”

“She didn’t tell me… I could have helped.” I felt the tears prickling in my eyes.

“You’re an amazing woman, I’m sure you did all that you could.” I couldn’t see Chrom from where I was sitting.  “You’re always looking out for others, just use this as an opportunity to look after yourself as well. I’ll call Robin, I’m sure you would want to talk to him more than me.”

“I tried to call him before, I think he’s busy.” Chrom got up, but I stayed seated. “Thank… you.”

“I’ve been nothing but an asshole lately.” He said from the kitchen. “Actually, your friend made sure to tell me that.”

“Robin?”

Chrom laughed. “Oh, he tells me everyday, I just didn’t want to listen. But, no. I think it might have been the same friend who you’re talking about, she looks exactly like the little girl in there. I went to a cafe and when I gave her my name she asked if I was Luci and Cynthia’s dad. I said yes and she told me I was a fucking asshole and that I should go straight to hell. She still gave me a coffee, though, but I threw it out because she probably spit in it.”

“Oh dear.” I felt the tears falling down my face. “That sounds like her.”

“I can’t explain how sorry I am, Sumia. And I know that’s god knows how many years too late. I want to be better.”

“You’re a good dad.”

“Just because I’m a good dad doesn’t mean I should treat you like this.” I heard him turning on the Keurig. “Do you want chai tea?”

A reminder of why we were married. My favorite tea, even though Chrom hated it he always made sure to keep it stocked in the kitchen. It was easy for me to forget that I used to love him, that I wasn’t wrong to marry him.

Severa ran into the living room, sitting down on the couch next to me. I wiped away my tears quickly, not wanting to alarm her.

“What’s up?” I asked when a couple of moments passed into silence.

“Inigo was annoying me, I left.” She said with a huff, her feet dangling off the sofa. Chrom laughed in the kitchen, not used to Severa’s usual tone and course of action.

“Want to hang out with the adults?” I asked with a small smile. It was forced, but there was also something comforting about talking to the little girl.

“Can we color again sometime? It was fun.” She said.

“Of course.”

“Here you go.” Chrom leaned over the couch behind me and placed a steaming mug of tea in my hands. “How old are you?”

“Five.” She held up the fingers to demonstrate.

“So you and Cynthia are almost the same age. Are you friends?” Chrom sat back down on the chair across the coffee table.

“I guess.” She shrugged and Chrom raised his eyebrows at me. I just waved him off.

“Are you going to come live with us, Sumia?”

I furrowed my eyebrows at the strangely particular question. “No, why would you ask?”

Severa brushed her fingers through one of her pigtails, smoothing out the knots. “When mom was dating Olivia we lived with her and Inigo, so I thought maybe we would live together.”

Now Chrom was also looking at me quizzically. One thing was for certain, never underestimate the amount of things that children understood.

I smiled at her. “Me and your mom aren’t dating.” I decided on. Although, part of me wanted to push. I was wondering if she didn’t quite know what dating was or if it was the truth.

“You’re not married to him, though, right?” She pointed a finger at Chrom. “You have different houses.” It was interesting to see how young children made connections like that. Oversimplifications that were strangely trues.

I shook my head. “No, we’re divorced so we don’t live together.”

“I wish you would date Mom so you could hang out every night.” She said, before getting up and returning back in the direction of the playroom. 

I stared at her retreating figure. Chrom cleared his throat. “Children bewilder me. She seems to like you, though. Do you and her mom hang out a lot?”

“Yeah, we were actually friends in high school. We got back in touch earlier this year and she offered me and job at the cafe.”

“That’s good, Robin told me that you seemed to be in a really good mood lately.” Chrom said, before biting his lip. “I’m not going to lie, it’s a bit weird to be talking with you like this.”

“I’ll go play with the kids if it’s uncomfortable.” I started to get up, but he shook his head.

“No, no. I didn’t mean it like that.” He leaned back into the couch. “I guess we’ve only had formalities and arguments since the divorce went through.”

“Do you regret marrying me?” I said, before considering the weight of the words.

I was about to apologize, but he shook his head no. “If we didn’t get married, we wouldn’t have Lucina and Cynthia. Plus, you’re an amazing woman and mother, I would be kind of stupid to regret that.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to ask that.” I said. “But, thank you.”

“As I said, I’m going to be better.” Chrom smiled. “You’re welcome here whenever.”


	11. Chapter 11

I let out a deep exhale before ringing the doorbell. The advice that Olivia had given me echoed in my head.  _ Just act normal, she’s not a different person _ . I heart someone shuffling towards the door and took a short step back.

“Hey.” I said with a smile when Cordelia opened the door. “I made sure to bring snacks.” I held up the grocery bags.

“You’re the best.” I was rewarded with a smile back as she held open the glass door for me. “Shit, it’s cold outside.”

“At least you have a blanket.” I motioned to the blanket she had wrapped herself in, like a set of robes. I stepped in and made sure to close the door behind me so that more wind wouldn’t get in. “You sound a bit sick.”

“I think I got a cold from the hospital, to be honest. Nothing bad.” She shrugged, heading towards the kitchen while I took my shoes off and hung my jacket. Cordelia had some music playing in the kitchen, though I wasn’t quite sure who the artist was.

“Is Sev still with Olivia and Cherche?” I asked as I entered.

Cordelia turned down the music. “Yeah, I just wanted one more day to get things settled. They told me that you took her for the day though. Thank you so much, I know it was your day off.”

“It was fun.” I said, unloading the plastic bags. “I ended up taking them to Chrom’s and we all played Mario Kart, so it was still fun.”

“Oh?” Cordelia asked. “Chrom’s?”

I nodded. “We talked it out a bit. I don’t know, even just over the weekend there’s been a huge improvement. Like he sent me pictures of the girls at tennis practice. Thank you… for standing up for me.”

“Oh my god.” Cordelia hid her face. “I didn’t think he would tell you about that.”

“I’ve never had anyone do that for me.” I held up a canister of cinnamon roll dough. “Do you want to make these now?”

Cordelia’s face lit up. “You’re amazing. Gimme a second, I’ll just go put my blanket down and hair up.”

I got to work finding a pan to cook the rolls in until I heard Cordelia behind me.

“Here you go. Hair up.” She reached in front of me to put a hair tie in my palm.

“I’m not at work.”

“I like seeing your pretty face.” Her steps told me she was on the other side of the kitchen, but I kept forward to hide my blushing cheeks. I gathered my hair and put it into a ponytail, before turning around to talk to Cordelia.

“Where do you keep the--” I stopped. “--oh wow.”

I didn’t know that she had a tattoo. Her entire left thigh was taken up by various flowers, intertwining and working their way up and ending at about her knee. The colors were stunning, I could tell that the artist had taken their time to make each one unique. It was truly a masterpiece.

“Hm?” She looked down. “I forgot that you hadn’t seen my tattoo at all.”

She turned her leg to let me look at the sides.

“I can’t believe that I didn’t know.” I said. But, it made sense. I had never seen her in shorts, especially since it was cold out. I had no way of knowing.

“There’s a lot that you don’t know about me.” She said, before frowning. “I’m sorry, that sounded rude.”

“No, no. It’s true.” I thought back to this weekend. How much I  _ really  _ didn’t know about Cordelia.

“Maybe we should talk.” Her shoulders were sagging. “I’ll preheat the oven.”

She did so and we both went into the living room. She turned off the music on her phone and we both stared at each other in the silence. I didn’t want to bring up the hospitalization, I was waiting to see if she wanted to talk about it. It seemed like it wasn’t my business.

“About my hospital stay.” She said. She readjusted herself so she was sitting cross legged on the couch. “It wasn’t really a first time thing. I’ve been in and out for years now and with a lot of different therapists outside of the hospital.”

“Do you mind if I ask questions?” I didn’t want to upset her more than she already was. “If you don’t want to answer them, then just don’t.”

“No, I think it would be easier if you just asked.” She rubbed her shoulder. She wouldn’t look me in the eyes.

“How come you didn’t tell me that you were struggling?”

“I didn’t know how to bring it up.” She sighed. “Just ‘hey, I have really bad depression and anxiety?’ ‘Sometimes I forget how to function as a human being?’”

“How long have you been diagnosed?”

“Since Junior Year of high school.” I cringed when she said high school. We were still really close at that point, how had I not known? I could tell she was looking at my reaction. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, Sumia, I really am. It’s just hard to talk about. I always feel like there’s so many people worse off than me. I have such an amazing life, I shouldn’t be--”

“No.” I stopped her. “It’s not like you have a choice to deal with depression. You can’t just turn it off because you ‘should be happy.’”

Cordelia gave me a sad smile. “You sound like my therapist. But, I guess I thought maybe if I ignored it enough I would finally just be… okay?” She sighed, trying to organize her thoughts. “I’m surrounded by so much love anymore, way better than I have been in the past and I stopped taking my medication. It turned me into a disaster, especially after what went on with my mom.”

“Oh, so you stopped taking it?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“It wasn’t the best idea.” Cordelia shook her head. “Like you get to a point where you think you’re okay, but the only reason why your emotions are so under control is  _ because _ of the medicine. I didn’t want to seem weak by taking medication, though.”

“There’s nothing weak about it.” I assured. The oven beeped in the kitchen. “One minute, I’ll go get those in the oven and then we can talk more.”

By the time I came back, I knew that Cordelia had thought about what she wanted to say. “Sumia, I’m a recovering alcoholic. I know that I mentioned before that I don’t drink, but it’s because of that. I was sober for about half a year before the other day.”

“Is that why you ended up getting admitted?”

“Yeah. Olivia figured out that I had been drinking because I was acting strangely, made sure I didn’t drink a deadly amount and waited until the next morning for me to make a decision.” She put her head down in her hands. “Severa was home. I’m a shit mom.”

“Come here.” I scooted closer to her, wrapping my arms around her. “It’s okay, you can get back on track.”

“The thing is, I don’t know how she hasn’t been taken from me yet.” Cordelia sounded on the verge of tears. “How many more times until they realize this is a pattern? Until Olivia counting as a guardian doesn’t work anymore?”

“Cordelia, let me help you figure this out.”

“People are getting sick of helping me. I didn’t want you to get sick of me, too.”

“No one is getting sick of helping you.” I promised. “And I’m not going to, either.”

“But what if you do?”

“It’s not going to happen.” I said. “I’ll help you in anyway that I can. Meetings, watching Severa or even just staying here to make sure you don’t do anything. You don’t have to do this alone.”

She buried her face into my shoulder, shifting her body to hug me better. “Why are you not angry with me? I kept all this from you.”

“It wasn’t a requirement to tell.” I responded, rubbing at her shoulders. My eyes were still burning with tears. “I can’t imagine how hard it was on you, with your mom. Of course, it was already difficult before, but I had no idea.”

“To be honest, I struggled with my sexuality so much in high school.” She said. “It was so drilled in my head that it was wrong that I didn’t feel comfortable exploring myself. I hated myself for those feelings.”

“I’m so sorry.” I said. It felt unfair that she had to suffer like that, especially when I was able to embrace my feelings so easily.

“I hated myself.” She repeated. “I did such cruel things to my body as a teen.” Cordelia gestured to her thigh. “These are cover-up tattoos, I guess that’s the reason I don’t show it off too much. It was for myself, more than anything.”

I looked closer at the ink, able to pick out raised scars. I stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue.

“Of course, I’m not perfect now. But no one is perfect. I don’t hurt myself anymore, but I’m still on medications for depression and anxiety.” She pressed her lips together. “I guess I didn’t tell you because I wanted to impress you. You weren’t there to watch me struggle, so I thought I could just hide it away.”

“Cordelia--”

“I’m not the person that you think I am.” She stared at her hands. “And I keep making you worry and playing with your feelings.”

“I was scared.” I admitted. “I knew you were going to be okay, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if I lost you.”

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was barely audible.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t help you in high school.” I said. “I should have at least notice that something was off. I didn’t pay enough attention.”

“It’s not your fault.” We were quiet for a while. I just held her close and I could smell the cinnamon rolls cooking in the oven. It was insane how much I just wanted to help her, but I guess this would have to do for now. Just letting her know that she wasn’t alone. “I feel so guilty. So many people would do anything for this life and here I am, wasting it.”

“You’re not wasting it.” I assured her. “Sure, it’s not going perfectly, but as I said, sometimes your brain isn’t something that you can control.”

“I feel like I’m dragging Olivia down, too. She needs to babysit her ex who can’t get her shit together.” I felt her tense in my arms and what she said. “Shit.”

“Sev already told me.” I said, trying to make sure she wasn’t uncomfortable. “And I can’t imagine that Olivia thinks of it like that.”

“I abused her, Sumia.” She whispered. “Not physically, but that doesn’t make it better. I would get drunk because I didn’t want to deal with life and then just scream at her. I don’t deserve any of this from her, not one bit. And now she’s married and she still needs to watch over me all the time.”

“She loves you.” I said. “She knows that you’re not like that on the inside, she wants to help.”

“I’m scared.” She said. “I’m scared that you’re going to keep liking me after this, but I’m also scared that you’re going to leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I promised. “I know that there’s all this going on, but please don’t forget what a positive impact you’ve had on my life.”

“I don’t positively impact anyone.”

“I know you think I’m being sarcastic when I say it, but I literally have no friends.” I sighed. “After I got divorced, it hurt me really bad. I didn’t know what I did wrong, felt guilty because I was taking my kids away from a ‘nuclear’ family. All the people who were my friends were Chrom’s more than mine, so I was alone. Robin keeps telling me how much I’ve improved in just a few months and that’s because of you.”

Cordelia didn’t respond right away, but instead buried her face deeper into the crook of my neck. I could feel her tears. “Do you think… you can take me to the AA meetings?” Her voice was small. “I had stopped going, but I get really anxious and upset right before and after them, so it helps to have someone with me.”

“Of course.” I smiled, glad that she felt okay with asking me for help. “Anything else that you can think of right away?”

“Let’s go clothes shopping with the girls sometime after work.” She picked her head up and offered me a smile. “I want to spend more time with my daughter. And I think I want her to try out tennis lessons.”

“That sounds like fun.” I said, knowing very well that I didn’t really have money to do that. “Plus, I can always ask Chrom about the tennis stuff and he can help you out, probably.”

“One more thing.” She looked me straight in the eyes. “Can you come with me to this thing on Tuesday?”

“What is it?” Now her eyes shifted away.

“It’s kinda stupid, but it’s a thing at Severa’s school. Like a families’ night?”

“You’re blushing.” I smirked, but I could feel my own face heating up.

“I want to disappoint as many Catholic school teachers as I can, so would you like to come with me as a date?”  She was still looking away. “And, Cynthia and Lucina can come, too.”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” I smiled and she returned her face to my shoulder. I played with her hair. “You’re so cute, Cordelia.”

“Shut up.” She said, but with a light tone in her voice. “I want to get better, I promise.”

“And I’ll be here to help you.” I reminded her. “Always.”


	12. Chapter 12

“When is she coming?” Cynthia was hanging upside down on the couch and I could only watched as she messed up her hair. “I want to see Sev’s school.”

“She should be here soon.” I looked at my watch. I mean, she wasn’t  _ exactly _ wrong to complain, it was five minutes after Cordelia said she was going to pick us up. I was feeling particularly anxious myself, since it was a date of sorts. Surrounded by children at a Catholic school, but a date nonetheless. 

“Is Inigo going to be there, too?” Lucina asked. She was playing with the curls in her hair. We all had hair appointments right after I got out after work and the hairdresser had offered to curl it.

“Yep.” I responded, combing through my own hair in the mirror. It was quite the change. “With Olivia and Cherche.”

The doorbell rang and I went to go answer it. As soon as the door swung open, Cordelia stared at me. “Holy shit.”

“What?” I said with a smirk, pretending that I had no clue why she was shocked.

“When?” She was stopped in the door. “I saw you  _ two days ago _ . When did you cut your hair?”

“About three hours ago.” I ran my fingers through the bob. It was an impulsive decision, I admit. But, I thought it was a nice change. My hair even looked curlier without all the weight holding it down.

“Can I touch it?” I laugh and nodded. Cordelia’s fingers took the place of mine. She had a huge smile on her face as she played with it. “You look beautiful, Sumia.”

My cheeks were heating up, so I tried to back away, but Cordelia had stepped even closer to look at it. I started rambling out of pure nervousness. “I asked Cynthia as a joke what I should do with my hair, but then I kind of liked the idea and decided to chop it.”

“I don’t think I’ve  _ ever _ seen you with short hair.” Her face was still close to mine and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. “Gorgeous.”

“We’re going to be late.” I stepped away to grab the girls’ bags. We were going to stay the night at Cordelia’s after the school event, which somehow increased the butterflies in my stomach.

“Let me.” Cordelia took the two smaller bags from my hands and headed towards the door. “Hi girlies, let’s get going.”

Cynthia and Lucina happily followed her out the door while I locked it behind us.

“How’s the cafe doing without me?” Cordelia asked once we were all situated in the car. She was set to come back to work the next day, but the rest of us covered all weekend in order to give her a proper break.

“Don’t tell Olivia I said this: you’re definitely a better manager.”

“Oh, I’m so telling her.” Cordelia laughed as she pulled back on to the road. “Now, heads up this might be the most boring thing ever, but we do get to make fun of all the other parents that are upset that their kids are seeing gay people.”

“What does gay mean?” Cynthia asked in the back. I got quiet, not quite sure what to say, but luckily another voice responded.

“Olivia and Cherche are gay.” Severa said. “So is my mom.”

“It’s when girls like girls or boys like boys.” Lucina added.

“Oh, okay.” Cynthia went back to playing with her older sister’s hair.

“See? Kids get it.” Cordelia motioned. “Everyone gets so worried about it, but they can understand it in seconds.”

“You’re right.” I thought of why I was even nervous to explain thirty seconds ago? Even though I wasn’t religious, it was so ingrained in me that sexuality was inappropriate for children and that was just wrong.

Even in the dim light of the display, I could still see Cordelia’s shadow looking over at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I can’t get over your hair.” She said. “I would have never thought of short hair on you, but it fits you so well.”

“Thank you.” I drummed my nails against the window. “I won’t be able to braid it anymore, though.”

“Just braid my hair, then.” She flipped half of it onto my arm.

I picked up random strands and loosely braided them together. “I need to teach Severa how to braid so at least  _ someone _ can do it.”

“But I like the idea of you having to come over every time we need a braid.” She turned on the blinker with a click. “It’s a great damsel-in-distress call.”

“Obviously life or death.” I rolled my eyes, brushing the tiny braids back out with my fingertips.

“I do need some reason to get you to come over, though.”

“You say that like I don’t come over all the time.”

“Touche.” She turned into another side road. “And we’re here.”

I had been to the school a few times to pick up Severa and Inigo. Even though it was a private school, it was bigger than Cynthia’s preschool because it was connected to the elementary and middle school.

I helped get the two younger girls out of the car before we walked across the parking lot into the school. I felt someone grab my hand. I turned, expecting it to be one of my daughters, but Cordelia had slipped next to me.

“Is this okay?” She asked with a smile.

“Y-yeah.” I stuttered, over aware about whether or not my hand was clammy. Hers was warm and she was squeezing it gently.

“Hello.” Someone greeted as we walked in behind the girls. “Hi, Severa. Are you ready to show your mom what you worked on this week?”

Severa shrugged, before walking away with Cynthia in tow. Lucina stayed back.

“Hi.” Cordelia smiled at, presumably, the teacher. “Sorry about that, I’m still working on respect with her.”

“Well, we sure have a lot to talk about in those regards at the next parents meeting.” The teacher didn’t look excited for that meeting. Cordelia laughed, which visibly frustrated the teacher. “Her class’ stuff is set up on the left of the gymnasium. And can you please sign in the guests.”

Cordelia nodded, letting go of my hand to write down my, Lucina, and Cynthia’s names. I hovered by her, not sure where to go. Lucina palmed some of the candy that was in a dish next to the sign up sheet.

“Welcome to Severa’s school.” I followed Cordelia into the small gymnasium. “Here’s the students’ art displayed.” She was making overdramatic hand motions. “Oh, and there are my favorite gays.” I followed where she was pointing to find Olivia and Cherche standing off to the side of the gym.

“Sumia, your hair!” Olivia ran over, mouth wide open. “It looks so good, oh my god.”

“It looks really nice.” Cherche added with a smile.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“Did Cordelia freak out?” Olivia asked with a smirk. I just laughed. “Oh, she totally did.”

“Oh, shut up.” Cordelia nudged her, but she was smiling, too. 

“She cursed.” Lucina helpfully added, which cracked Cherche up.

“Here, come with me, Luci.” Olivia motioned. “I’ll show you which stuff Inigo made.”

I took a seat on the bleachers, watching Cordelia goof around with Cherche. I was glad that she seemed to be getting along like usual with the two. She had worried me with how convinced she was that they were going to stop talking to her.

“C’mon, Cherche, sing with me.” Cordelia held onto her hands, dramatically swinging them as music played on the speakers. “ _ Go tell it on the mountain _ .”

“For the love of god, they taught Inigo that song and he didn’t stop singing for a week.” Cherche tried to push her away. “Go back to your wifey.”

Cordelia returned to me as I watched Inigo teaching Cynthia how to dance. Severa was hovering nearby, but she didn’t look as willing to join in. “She’s not in the mood for bible songs?”

“What a bummer, missing out on some great bops.” She shook her head. “I mean, remember when I was a counselor for that bible camp in high school? Every once in a while, I get a song stuck in my head and I have no clue where it’s from. And then it hits me like a brick.”

“I’m glad that you seem to be in a good mood.” I smile. “But you’re ridiculous.”

I watched Inigo show Cynthia how to do a pirouette. Severa rushed in to stabilize her when she over fell over. She looked so serious, but Cynthia just laughed the mishap off.

“I do think I’m in a better mood.” She said and I flinched ever so slightly when she took my hand in hers once more. “Sorry to drag you to this.”

“I, for one, am having fun.” I smiled at her, squeezing her hand. “I’m just happy to be spending time with you.”

Her cheeks tinted with a blush when I said the words and my heart skipped.

“Me too.”

“Was it weird when Olivia got married?” I asked. We watched as Olivia gave Cherche a small peck on the cheek while looking at the projects with Lucina. “Since even though you’re best friends, you were dating for a while.”

Cordelia shrugged. “Well, I was a bit angry when they first started dating. I was the one who introduced those two. I was dating--well, hooking up--with Cherche and then I thought they would make good friends. They were  _ very _ good friends.” I laughed because of her overly light tone. “But, whatever. Because look at who’s in front of me.”

I ignored her comment. “I could never imagine you with Cherche.”

“Yeah, me either.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “That’s why the key word was  _ hooking up _ .”

“Hm.”

“Please tell me to stop if your uncomfortable.” She said. “I know some people don’t like talking about exes.”

I shook my head. “It’s honestly fine with me, I do have an ex-husband after all.”

“Mom.” Severa ran up, pulling on Cordelia’s sleeve. “Come look at the thing I made in art class.”

Cordelia got up, still holding onto my hand. “Okay, sweetie.”

“You come, too.” She commanded at me and I laughed. The rest of the night went by quickly--or at least as quickly as a school event could. It exhausted the kids, making it easy to get them to bed once we were back at Cordelia’s.

“My feet hurt.” Cordelia groaned, kicking her boots off. I lined mine more carefully next to hers. “Thank you again for coming along.”

“Thanks for inviting me.” I said, following her into the kitchen. “Especially since you came to Lucina’s play and everything.”

“I still think there should have been a slow song.” Cordelia huffed. We were standing in the kitchen, with only the uplighting on the cabinets to illuminate the scene. “I thought that I would be able to pull a move.”

“As opposed to bible music? In a Catholic school?” I asked, but I turned on my phone, quickly typing into the search engine. “I’m not religious, but I am superstitious.”

Cordelia laughed. She was busy pouring sparkling water into glasses. “You have a point.”

I pressed play, the music quiet on my phone speaker. “Let’s dance, then.”

She blinked slowly at me and for a moment I thought she was going to turn me down. Then, she stepped forward and took me into her arms. “You’re so smooth.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever used that word to describe me.” Out of habit, a wrapped my arms around her neck. She gently moved her hands down until they were on my waist and began to sway with me. She hummed the tune of the song. We stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other’s silence.

“Is this one of your favorite songs?”

“I looked up slow dance songs and pressed the first one.”

Cordelia laughed, not breaking eye contact with me. “You’re such a nerd, but so am I.”

“Nope, you’re so cool.”

“Let me tell you a secret.” She leaned in even closer, so our cheeks were brushing and she was whispering in my ear. “The day I came up to you in the supermarket, it wasn’t the first time I had seen you around town. I had seen you twice before in passing, but I was too scared of going up and introducing myself. You looked so beautiful and I was scared the you wouldn’t remember me.” Cordelia kept her one hand strong on my waist, the other traveled upward to play with the tips of my hair. It was so comforting to be held by her, swaying to the music that I didn’t recognize. It had to be one of the more modern pop ballads.

“I thought you wouldn’t remember me.” I finally decided on.

“How could I forget?” She pulled away from my ear and I stared into her eyes. The mascara that she was wearing made her eyelashes dark and wispy. The final notes of the song were playing, fading into a quiet house.

“Can I kiss you?” I asked.

“I’ve been wanting to since you opened the door.”

Our lips met and I gently closed my eyes. Cordelia’s lips tasted like the vanilla chapstick that she kept in her car. We broke apart, but I kept my eyes shut. I didn’t want to look around, I just wanted to continue this moment. She dipped her head down once more, this kiss with even more force. I pressed my body into her’s, her hand gently resting at the small of my back.

She walked me backwards until I felt the counter behind me. I broke the kiss. “You can’t lift me.”

“Yeah, right.” Cordelia smirked, before grabbing my waist and lifting me onto the island. I yelped. Now taller than her, I looked down at her and laughed. “I told you so.”

“What ever will I do? You proved me wrong.” I couldn’t stop giggling as Cordelia pecked more kisses on my lips.

“Stop smiling and let me kiss you properly, god dammit.” She tried to sound strict, but her own mouth was pressed into a smile just like mine. I could feel her fingers intertwined with the belt loops on my jeans. I knotted my fingers into her hair. “I wanted to do this for so long.”

I pulled away to look at the smug smile on her face. “Were you going to kiss me that one time?”

She laughed. “One time? I had to stop myself from doing it all the time. Hell, I was wondering what your reaction would be if I kissed you when we went to get ice cream a couple months ago. You’re just too tempting.”

“I just thought you were like that with everyone.” I admitted. “I didn’t realize that maybe you liked girls until we went to the school play.”

“But I’m the gayest person I know?” She looked genuinely concerned. “Damn, I need to tattoo it on my face.” She pecked my lips a few more times.

“Don’t do that.” I ran a finger over her cheek. “Because then women would be throwing themselves at you more than they do.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Another kiss. “Correction. I think I might have wanted to kiss you in high school, too. I wasn’t comfortable yet, but you were my closest friends and you’re just so dang pretty.”

“I always wondered why you didn’t have a boyfriend.”

“Men aren’t shit.” Cordelia said and I laughed. “Right, Darling?”

If it was physically possible, I would have melted on the spot. I instead kissed her as hard as I could, not caring anymore for being careful. I took her bottom lip between my own and sucked on it. Hell, I might have even bit.

It was surreal to hear a quiet moan from Cordelia, whose fingers were roaming my back and grabbing onto my shirt. She pressed closer into me, breaking from the kiss. “Fuck.”

I looked away, slightly embarrassed of the situation all the sudden. It had gotten out of hand a bit too fast for my liking (even though it was all my fault).

“Do you mind… if we stop?” I asked nervously.

Cordelia nodded, though I could see the concern on her face. She kept her arms around me, but looser and less lust-filled. “Everything okay?”

“It just got a bit too much, too fast. I’m sorry.”

“Never apologize for that.” Cordelia rested her head on my shoulder and I could feel my entire body relax. “You can always tell me to stop.”

“I want to stay like this forever.” I said.

She rubbed my back in slow circles. I could almost fall asleep. “Me too. Want to head up to bed? You can take the guest room or sleep in mine, your choice.”

“Is it fine if I take the guest room?”

“Of course.” She kissed me on the cheek. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did promise the gay...


	13. Chapter 13

When I woke up, I wasn’t sure where I was. I didn’t spend any time away from home, so it was concerning to wake up in a unknown room. In the dark I made out the features. The floral bedspread, the nightstand, the bookshelf that stood across from me.

I sunk back into the bed, yawning. It was Cordelia’s house, specifically her guest room. The comforter was nice and warm and I almost drifted back to sleep.

Until I remembered what happened last night.

I pulled the covers up to my chin as my cheeks heated up. Cordelia and I had kissed. Not only kissed, but made out and we both confessed our feelings and… oh god.

A dumb smile spread across my face. She was just so gorgeous and perfect, and she liked me? It was a fairytale that I was too afraid to wake up from.

It was the waking up part that made me afraid.

With very little warning my good mood began to slip away as it was replaced with fear. The last time she had kissed me… well, it didn’t go quite as well. Just the thought of this crumbling as well made me tremble.

I shifted from under the blankets and forced my body out of bed. With plans of getting a cold glass of water, I started down the stairs. It was early in the morning, so I doubted that anyone was up just yet. The alarm clock had said five a.m..

By the time I was in the kitchen, I could barely hear the sound of the TV playing in the living room. When I saw Cordelia awake and lying on the couch, it was too late to scurry back upstairs.

“Good morning.” Cordelia said. I froze, not sure of what to do.

“G-good morning.” I stuttered out, looking away from the couch. I could tell that Cordelia could sense my hesitation.

“Is everything okay?” Cordelia asked, leaning upwards to talk to me. Her hair was slightly messed up from sleep, the back of it not flat against her head. “Tell me what’s up.”

I shrugged. “I guess I just don’t know if you wanted what happened last night, so I didn’t know what to do.” I couldn’t stop the words from coming from my mouth. I felt guilty to doubt her so much, but it was too early in the morning to filter my words.

“Come here.” She motioned me over. I walked into the living room and stood in front of the couch. I heard that the television was just playing the morning newscast. I got close enough until she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me on top of her. I knew I was flushed, but I let her pull me in. “I’m sorry to make you worry. Can I have a kiss?”

I nodded and kissed her. She smiled at me when I pulled away, but I hesitated.  “I’m sorry that I get worked up over dumb stuff, I should have just done that to begin with.”

Cordelia shook her head. She talked with a calm voice as if none of this was surprising her at all.  “It was fair, I got cold feet the first time that we kissed, so it makes sense. Plus, don’t ever worry about having to double check with me about anything. If it makes you nervous, I will never mind explaining things to you.”

“Thank you.” I said, yawning and relaxing in her arms.

“You’re so cute.” She mumbled.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t sleep in your bed last night. Or went… “ I hesitated, “further.”

Cordelia hugged me tighter, kissing the hair on the top of my head. “Don’t ever apologize for that, sweetheart. You’re not required to do anything sexual at all.”

“I just feel bad.” I insisted, but she hushed me again.

“No feeling bad about that.” There was a moment of silence before she asked me. “Why are you up so early?”

“I just woke up and was worried about this, so I came downstairs to get water and calm down.” I admitted. “And you?”

“Sorry that I made you worry.” She said again. “I’ve been having a hard time on and off sleeping. Sometimes I can just pass out, others I can only get in an hour or two at a time because I’m anxious about things that I shouldn’t be.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault.” Cordelia closed her eyes when I looked up to her. The sound of the television was playing faintly in my ears, the reporter droning on about the incoming spring weather that was sure to hit us soon. There wasn’t much news this early in the morning. “You’re so warm.” Cordelia mumbled. “Don’t ever move.” She ran her nails against my back in circles, I felt my head getting heavier with each passing moment as I rested against her chest. I wasn’t sure how long I dozed off for, but we both woke up to the sound of Cordelia’s alarm.

It took her awhile to eventually get her grasps on her phone, which had been resting on the floor. Cordelia held tight on to me, continuing to balance me on top of her as she groped around for the phone to turn the shrill noise off. Once it stopped, she sighed and leaned back into the couch. “The girls don’t  _ have _ to go to school.”

I hit her arms gently, though I too was reluctant to get up. “Yes they do.”

“Or we could all lie in bed and cuddle.”

“Very tempting.” I said, wriggling myself out of her embrace and sitting up. “But we’re the responsible ones, remember?”

“I have faith in Lucina taking it all on. She looks capable to driving.” Cordelia insisted, but she too began to sit up. She stretched with her arms above her head, her shirt riding up. “Though I do think Olivia needs more hands on deck at work.”

She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I smiled back at her, both of us still stationed on the couch. “Should we go wake the girls up and get them ready?’

“How about you get the girls dressed and I’ll get some breakfast ready?” Cordelia suggested. “That way we’ll be sure to get out the door on time.”

“Sure thing.” I kissed her quickly on the lips and got up from the couch. All of the girls had slept in Severa’s room, although when I opened the door the only one awake was Severa.

“Good morning.” I said, turning on the lamp that was beside the door. Lucina stirred from her bundle of blankets on the floor, while Cynthia stayed still, curled up next to Severa. She got out of the bed and went past me to the bathroom. I bent down to kiss Lucina’s head as she wiped her eyes.  “Cordelia’s making us all a nice breakfast, so let’s get ready as quick as we can.”

The mention of breakfast was enough to have my youngest daughter on her feet. I was slightly insulted that she didn’t get as excited by my own food, but I let it slide. After getting all three of the girls out of bed, it wasn’t too hard to get them all dressed and brush their teeth. It did take me a few tries, however, to get Severa’s twintails into something that she considered proper.

I led the parade down the stairs, the scent of Cordelia’s cooking drafting up to the second floor. Cynthia jumped off the last stair and sprinted past me into the kitchen. I smiled to myself when I heard Cordelia’s voice greeting my daughter.

“That was fast.” Cordelia commented, putting the final plate on the table. One tray was filled with a stack of pancakes, another with sizzling bacon. A bowl of fruit was already cut up and in the center. “How many times did Sev make you do her hair?”

“Only three.” I kissed Cordelia’s cheek as she took her seat and I sat down next to her. Lucina looked at the action quizzically, but the two younger girls didn’t notice the interaction. “Cynthia, smaller bites.” I stopped my daughter from folding up the whole pancake and shoving it into her mouth.

“You’ll choke.” Severa said. I raised my eyebrows, but filled my own plate.

“Do you think you can braid my hair?” Cordelia asked. “Or should I just throw it into a bun.”

“I don’t mind braiding it.” I ran a hand through my own hair. I was glad that it was now short; it was much less of a bird’s nest when I woke up.

“We need to get going soon-ish.” Codelia said, looking at her phone on the table. “I’m going to run and get dressed then come back down. I would offer coffee, but we work at a coffee shop.”

I laughed and waved her off. Mornings were so easy with someone else. I couldn’t believe that I had enough time to eat, much less braid someone’s hair. Even Cynthia was being more cooperative than usual, not trying to delay our departure for school. Cordelia took her chance to disappear upstairs, coming back down fully dressed and ready to go. By the time we dropped the girls off and went to the cafe, I was actually early for work instead of walking in a minute late.

“Sumia? On time?” Olivia said from behind the counter. It was before the morning rush, so there was only a couple sitting by the door. Otherwise, the room was empty.

I dramatically threw my arms out and smirked before hanging up my jacket. “Take a picture, who knows when it will happen again?”

“I’m teasing.” Olivia said. She slid two mugs of steaming coffee onto the counter. “You two sleep well?”

I nodded and Cordelia swooped in next to me, “I need to grab something from the back.” She kissed me quickly before moving away.

Olivia smiled, her eyes glimmering in the light. “Sumia, you should have heard her talk about you.  _ For months _ .” Olivia rolled her eyes. “She wouldn’t make a move.”

“Olivia.” Cordelia said, eyeing her as she walked away. “You’re so mean to me.”

“Tell me more.” I joked, leaning in and wrapping my hands around the mug. My coworker’s smile went to a small frown when she heard the door to the storage room swing shut. “What’s wrong?” 

“Just,” Olivia took in a deep breath, “be careful. And you know that’s coming from my heart. I know how much she’s changed and I have so much faith in her not making the same mistakes, but please don’t ever feel like you deserve any type of the bad things she might give you.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” I said and I meant it. It wouldn’t do me  _ or _ Cordelia any good if I let her repeat the same mistakes. I went behind the counter as Cordelia came back, claiming the other cup of coffee. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your patience and continued support! I look forward to yet another year of writing :)


	14. Chapter 14

“I mean, she does like it.” Cordelia was explaining as we walked up to the rec center. “Severa’s just the kind of person who needs to do everything perfectly and it frustrates her if she can’t get it on the first try.”

I was trying to let her know that she didn’t have to force her daughter to play tennis with my own, but to no avail. “I mean are you sure?”

“Believe me, sweetheart.” I still smiled to myself at the pet name. “She’s just one wicked competitive five year old.”

Although the two of us had technically been together for three weeks now (not that I had been counting), neither of us had put a label on it. We spent most of our free time together, but as far as I knew, only Cherche and Olive were aware about our relationship. It made me nervous in a way, but I didn’t know how to approach the topic or if I even should. Maybe it was best to bask in the warmth Cordelia gave out, not try to beg for more.

We pushed the doors open and entered the sports center, checking in at the front desk. This place always--and still--made me feel uncomfortable. It was filled with parents who could afford private trainers and hundreds in lessons. I used to be one of those parents, but not anymore.

Robin waved us over to the couches where him and Chrom were stationed. I smiled and joined them, hugging my friend.

“Look at you two.” Robin said with a wink, letting me go. “Cynthia seems to be enjoying having Severa at practice.”

“That’s always good.” We all stood still, we could hear the girls laughing on the court, muffled by the glass. I realized this was the first time Chrom and Cordelia were officially meeting one another.

“Oh!” I started, feeling myself get flustered. “This is the girls’ father, Chrom. And this is Severa’s mom Cordelia.”

“We’ve met.” Chrom said with a bit of a grimace.

“I’m not apologizing for yelling at you.” Cordelia was quick to respond, sarcastically making finger guns. It took a few seconds to remember that Chrom had met Cordelia, in which she cursed him out and may or may not have spit in his drink order.

“I deserved it.” Chrom averted his eyes.

“Anyways,” Robin interrupted, “does anyone want any drinks while the lesson is finishing up?”

“No thank you, we’re gonna grab coffee at the new place down the road once it’s over.” Cordelia said.

“Don’t you own a coffee shop?” Robin asked.

“Scouting. Can’t let the competitors start up easily.”

“Is that a joke?” Robin turned his head.

“Nope.” I said, taking a folded up checklist from my purse. “I’m going to drink the coffee and use this list to rate it for Cordelia.”

“Olivia and Cherche and Inigo have already sent in theirs.”

“He’s five.”

“He rated the hot chocolate.” Cordelia said matter-a-factly. “And it scored higher than ours.”

We looked at each other, before laughing at our friends’ ability to involve their son in work the the coffee shop. Robin shot me a knowing look as Cordelia placed a hand on my knee. I tried to send one back, but it was hard to do so without blushing.

“So, Severa’s been doing pretty well for someone so new to the sport.” Chrom tried to facilitate some conversation after we had all gone quiet.

Cordelia rolled her eyes, but still answered. “She’s also been practicing in the house, which is slightly problematic.” Cordelia paused. “But thank you for letting her join lessons.”

“No problem.” Chrom said earnestly. “I like having her over at the house. She’s one funny child. Inigo’s also great.”

The conversation faded out once more, but this time we let the silence sit. Through the large panes of glass we could watch the girls with their trainer, working on stroke drills. Cynthia’s tennis dress matched Lucina’s skirt, my youngest daughter always wanted to look like her older sister. I guessed Chrom let Lucina dress herself, because her top matched abysmally with the skirt. I watched Severa as she hit the ball, her form still that of someone who had just started. She did, however, managed to keep the ball in. It bounced right on the line and just out of Cynthia’s reach. Severa grinned and I could see a lightness in her step with the new victory. My daughter was congratulating her.

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen her have so much fun with a sport. Or with anyone other than Inigo.” Cordelia said to me, moving her hand from my knee and taking mine instead. She mouthed an  _ is this okay _ and I nodded with a small smile. “It’s almost as if your girls have brought out a different person.”

I decided that there was no longer a need to hide. If anything, Robin should have assumed our relationship by now. And with Chrom, it wasn’t like us having different relationships was new. It just happened to be my first out of the marriage. And it just happened to be with another woman. I leaned my head on Cordelia’s shoulder and I could feel her relax into me.

We watched the girls for the remainder of their practice. Cordelia excused herself to the bathroom and left me alone with the two men.

“Not to be intrusive,” Robin raised his eyebrows at me, “but are you two together?”

I glanced sideways at Chrom, before realizing that he shouldn’t be my worry. “Is it that obvious?” I smiled.

Robin smiled back at me with a laugh. “You were both on top of each other. And the eyes you keep making at each other are borderline sickening. See? I told you that she was definitely interested.”

“Even I knew that she was interested.” Chrom added, though he looked a bit more apprehensive to comment. “Especially when she cursed me out on your behalf.”

“Thank you.” I said, after it was quiet for a moment. “For not freaking out.”

“Why would we freak out?” Robin asked, leaning in closer to me. “Because you’re queer?”

I looked away, still shy about being called that word. It was weird for me. I couldn’t quite get the hold on being called gay or queer, even though that’s exactly what it was. Cordelia and the other women were just so confident in their sexuality, so why couldn’t it be the same for me?

“Do the kids know?” Chrom asked.

I shook my head. “Well, I would find it hard to believe that Lucina hasn’t put it together yet. But, I’m kind of scared.” I felt the words tumbling out of my mouth. It wasn’t quite something I was ready to admit to my ex-husband. Something that I hadn’t told Cordelia yet. “I don’t want it to cause them trouble at school. I know that they understand the idea of being gay. We spend so much time with Cherche and Olivia for them to know how it works. But, I know Severa gets comments at school from the other parents who are more close-minded.”

“This might not be my place,” Chrom said, “but I wouldn’t worry about that. It’s out of your control and I know that our girls are strong. It’s not our fault that some people are horrible.”

“If anything, you’re the one in the right for teaching them how the world truly works.” Robin added, just as Cordelia was on her way over. “You can take your time.”

“What did I miss?” She asked as she sat back down next to me.

“Cordelia.” I said with a bit more urgency than I meant. I knew I would shy away if I didn’t get it out now. “I think I want to tell the girls about us.”

Her eyes widened momentarily, but it was exchanged for a warm smile. “Do you want us to just tell them at the cafe? I don’t think it’s going to require a big scene.”

“Yeah, I think that will work.” I said. “I just feel like it’s about time. Severa probably knows, same with Lucina.”

“Not Cynthia?” Cordelia said with amusement.

“She just kind of goes with what for sister says.”

“That’s accurate.” Chrom said. “I don’t think you two have anything to worry about.”

“Are you sure it’s okay that we tell them?” I wanted to check in with my husband. We had been so good recently about parenting and I didn’t want to ruin all of hard work.

“There is no reason for you to hide from them.” Chrom said, before clearing his throat. “I’ll admit that I don’t know much about this or how to handle it, but I could never imagine you telling me that I couldn’t introduce a girlfriend to my own children.”

I smiled, looking at the girls who were finishing up the tennis lesson. I was nervous, but I knew that it would go well.

*

By the time we got the girls settled down with hot chocolate and tea for Lucina, I was getting antsy about telling them the news. For one, I still didn’t know what to tell them exactly we were. We weren’t girlfriends, or were we? The whole thing was giving me a headache.

I was glad when Cordelia made the first move.

“Can we talk to you about something?” She asked, cradling her own coffee in her hands. The coffee shop was filled, as many did in this town for a new opening. Everyone wanted to test out the new coffee and flocked to it like there wasn’t so many in a five mile radius.

“Sure.” Severa said, which earned a laugh from Cynthia. Lucina nodded, but otherwise was too busy contemplating the taste of the tea she was drinking.

Cordelia smiled at me and took my hand under the table. I hoped that she couldn’t feel it shaking. “Sumia and I are dating. Kind of like when Olivia and I were together, Sev. Or before you were born, your mom and dad were dating before they got married.”

“Do you kiss each other?” Cynthia blurted out. Cordelia and I couldn’t help but to laugh at her outburst.

“Yes, we do.” Cordelia explained. “And we hold hands.” She said the next part with a teasing voice.

“So you’re gay?” Lucina asked.

“Yes.” I said, finally feeling brave enough to speak up. “Or you might hear the word ‘lesbian,’ which people use for two girls.”

“Are they going to move in?” Severa’s question reminded me of her basically interrogating Chrom and I about our relationship.

“That’s a question for a bit more in the future. We might, we might not. We all just need to see where it goes.” Cordelia explained. “Thank you girls for being so understanding. You’re all growing up so fast.”

The two youngest girls were beaming at that comment, but Lucina still looked a bit troubled. I leaned forward, “what’s up, Lucy?”

She bit her lip, as if considering her words. “Okay, so I get what’s happening. It’s like Olivia and Cherche, right?” I nodded. “There was a boy in my class that said that two women can’t be in love. Or two men.”

I looked at Cordelia, who gave me a short nod. I decided that I would be able to take this one. 

I took Lucina’s hand over the table. “There’s some people who think that. Most of it has to do with religion, or some people like things to be old-fashioned. But, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with two women or two men being in love. It’s the love part that’s the most important, as long as both people are respectful of one another.”

Lucina smiled. “Okay. He made it sound like it was a bad thing.”

“And that’s unfortunate. But, it’s not his fault. He’s still young, just like you are.”

Cordelia leaned onto my shoulder. “That was a good way to explain it, Sumia. If any of you three have any other questions, don’t feel bad about asking them. It doesn’t have to be right now.”

Cynthia and Severa were already dissolving into another conversation, with Lucina joining in. Cordelia and I continued holding hands and testing the coffee that we had ordered.

“Overall, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.” Cordelia said. “About both this coffee  _ and _ our daughters.”

I smiled back, but there was so much spinning in my mind. Sitting there, I just wanted to ask her what we were. What did she think our relationship was? The one part of my mind knew that it was simple. We liked each other--though perhaps I was leaning towards love. It was a scary thing to admit to being in love with someone. I get too attached too quickly. I spent so many nights wondering if that was the reason Chrom and I didn’t work out. Maybe I was trying too hard to preserve something that was barely there to begin with. Love was a loaded word and I was scared of losing her.

“Are you okay?” Cordelia asked. The concern was written all over her face, her thumb gently rubbing my fingers.

“Yes.” I said, before leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. She smiled, but I just returned to drinking my coffee and watching my daughters across the table. I didn’t have to worry about it right now. I didn’t know what we were, but I was happy, she was happy. Some part of me thought perhaps that I could go this whole time without saying ‘I love you.’

Because a promise that is never said can never be broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the continued support! Final chapter will be out sooner rather than later, love you all!


	15. Chapter 15

“God, I’m nervous.” I muttered, trying to clip the necklace clasp behind my neck.  “What if your mom _hates me_.”

“I would love to comfort you, darling, but I can’t make any promises.” Cordelia slid up behind me and took the necklace from my fingers. She did it on the first try. “Though, I promise it’s not because of who you are. She just has never met a girl I was with.”

She wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me close to her. “I’m very nervous, too. I’m very glad that you’ll be here with me.”

“I think it was smart to have Olivia and herche over, though I do hope that you told them to behave.” I let out a nervous laugh. “But, Cordelia. I know this might be difficult, but it’s not your fault if your mom doesn’t accept you.”

Cordelia wrapped around a kissed my cheek. “I know. I’ve been thinking a lot about how it went when I came out. Even though I would love her approval, it’s not necessary. Frankly, it will be her loss if she doesn’t give you--or us-- a fair chance. Plus, she’ll have a soft spot for your girls.”

“Who doesn’t.” I sighed, turning and embracing Cordelia. I wanted more than anything to make things okay, but that was out of my control. I could only hope to make things a little better. “You’re so brave.”

“You keep telling me that, but I don’t think so.”

I squeezed her tighter. “You shouldn’t have to prove yourself to your own mother. And, god, you’re almost two months sober. You’re amazing.”

She smiled into my shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You made a great dinner and you get to show off how you and your friends are still good parents even if we are queer.”

“Are you a good parent?” She joked, quickly following it with a “I’m absolutely kidding.”

I pretended to push her away, but went back into a hug. “I know you are.”

“You’re a supermom.” Cordelia said. She broke away from the hug and stood at her dresser, slipping her earings on. She looked beautiful.

“Sumia, I don’t want to rush you, but do you mind if we talk?” Her back was still turned to me, but she made eye contact in the mirror.

I felt concern bubble up in my stomach. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to ask you.” Cordelia stopped, looking like she was trying to find the words that she wanted to say. “I know that you want to take it slow between us and that is perfectly fine. But with my mom coming I wanted to talk about what this is.” She made a motion with her hand back and forth between us.

I just shrugged nervously. “It’s kind of whatever you want it to be, I guess. Whatever would make it the easiest with your mom.”

Cordelia frowned. “No. Sumia I want to hear your own opinion.” She turned to face me.

I could feel my cheeks furiously blushing. “I mean, then if you were okay with it, I would think of us as girlfriends. But, I’m not sure if that’s what you want.” I heard Cordelia’s gentle laugh, hidden behind her hand. I looked up at her. “Why are you laughing?”

Cordelia’s face had cracked into a smile, even though she was trying to keep it serious. “Baby, the only reason I didn’t rush to label our relationship was because I wanted you to be comfortable with your sexuality. Why would I not want that?”

“I didn’t know if maybe I was just a hook-up.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ.” Cordelia tackled me into a hug. “You don’t exactly hang out with your hook-ups, kiss them all the time, and not have sex.”

“I wouldn’t know.”  I was still embarrassed, but I couldn’t help but laugh along. I squeezed her back.

“You’re too cute, Sumia.” She said. “And I  _ do _ want to introduce you as my girlfriend. Actually, it will make me very happy.”

I could hear the doorbell ring from downstairs. “I hope that’s Olivia, Cherche, and Inigo. I told them to come a bit early before your mom gets here.”

“See, you’re smarter than me.” Cordelia gave me a quick kiss before breaking apart. We headed down the stairs, Severa and Cynthia trying to peek through the small window to get a glimpse of who it was.

“Who is it?” Cordelia asked, once we got to the final stair. 

A voice--obviously Cherche--responded. “It’s your favorite lesbian.”

“That’s a hard one.” Cordelia said through the door before opening it. “I know a lot of lesbians.”

“Do you really?” Cherche wrapped her into a hug. “Because my wife is bi and I’m not quite sure about your girl. So unfortunately for you, you’re stuck with me.”

“I also have more friends than you two.” Cordelia rolled her eyes, letting go of Cherche and letting her in. “But you’re still probably my favorite lesbian”

I also gave Cherche a quick hug and then Olivia, who came with a few baked goods for dessert. Inigo gave me a quick hello before disappearing away with the two other girls.

“Okay.” Olivia clasped her hands together. “What can we say and what is off limits?”

“No crass jokes.” Cordelia said without hesitation.

“Me?” Oliva feigned shock. “Crass jokes?”

“And please don’t talk about my relapse. I’m introducing Sumia as my girlfriend as well.”

Cherche smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

“You girls are going to make me cry.” Cordelia said. “I’m not going to lie, this could get very ugly, but I’m so grateful to have all of you here with me.”

We all hung out in the kitchen, Cordelia putting the final touches on dinner. I kept drifting towards her, making sure she didn’t go too long without a kiss. We could all see the anxiety radiating off of her, but she was reluctant to let it show. I wished I could do more than just squeezing her hand or playing with her hair.

Cordelia jumped when the doorbell rang. She wiped her hands on a towel and straightened her blouse.

I gave her a warm smile. “You got this.”

She sent back a tight-lipped smile. “Thank you. Stay here, darling.” Cordelia headed towards the foyer. I wandered into the living room, Olivia and Cherche following.

“Cordelia really loves you.” Olivia said. “I can never forget how many times I  _ begged _ her to tell her mother about me.” I could hear the echoes of greetings from the other room. “You’re helping her growth in ways I never could.”

Before I could respond, Cordelia re-entered the room. All three of us stood. Her mother looked very much like Cordelia, especially in the way she carried herself. Her eyes were harder.

“You’ve met Olivia a few times.” Cordelia said.

“It’s nice to see you, dear.” I bit my lip, growing more and more nervous with every passing second.

“And this is her wife, Cherche.”

I could feel the friendliness in the room begin to freeze away. There was a long pause before she said “nice to meet you.” Olivia’s face was shrouded in anger, but Cherche chose to be kind back and responded with a smile.

Cordelia’s mother finally turned towards me. Cordelia placed a hand around my waist. I could feel her shaking.

“This is Sumia. She’s my girlfriend.”

The room stood still, but I forced out “it is very nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Cordelia’s mom said, with even more coldness than what was in the words towards Cherche. She dug into her bag and placed a bottle of wine on the coffee table. “I brought wine for dinner.”

Olivia shot daggers at the alcohol. I could see her with something on the tip of her tongue, but Cherche put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. I felt the same anger that Olivia was experience. I couldn’t believe that a mother who knew about her daughter’s struggle with alcohol would willingly bring drinks to her house. Cordelia moved back into the hallway without a word. She then called the kids downstairs. The rest of us stood in silence, listening to the stampede of all four of them running.

The youngest three were closely followed by Lucina, who was telling Cynthia to be careful not to knock Inigo over.

After Severa hugged her grandmother, I put a shoulder on each of my own girls. “These are my daughters Lucina and Cynthia. Lucina is ten and Cynthia is the same age as Sev.”

“Hello.” Lucina smiled shyly. Cynthia was distracted with Severa’s hair. Sev batted her hand away.

“And you’ve met Inigo.” Olivia offered, though her face was still tight. I was worried that she was going to curse out Cordelia’s mother at any given second. After the children said their hellos, we all moved into the dining room for Cordelia to serve the food. I tried to get up and help, but she wouldn’t let me move from my seat.

By the time we were all properly seated and had our drinks, Cordelia already looked exhausted. Her mother had been silent the whole time, taking out a wine glass and pouring herself a glass of wine. She was the only one at the table who drank, even though I knew the two other women would. We all didn’t want to be rude towards Cordelia.

Cordelia sat down next to me, smiling weakly at me. “If you need anything else, just let me know.”

“This all looks amazing, thank you so much.” Olivia said, elbowing her son, who admitted a distracted ‘thank you’ as he was attempting to steal food off of Cynthia’s plate. Cherche began to dig into the past dish, also earning a glare from her wife.

“Sumia.” Olivia said. “I’m blaming you that Inigo is talking nonstop about wanting to join tennis. He’s practically begging for lessons every night.”

I laughed, rolling my eyes. “Blame Chrom, not me. He’s always welcome to join the lessons if he wants, it’s cheaper the more there are in a group, anyways.”

“He wants to wear one of the tennis skirts real bad.” Cherche said, reaching over Olivia to ruffle Inigo’s hair.

“He should try on one of Sev’s.” Cordelia offered. “It would look really cute.”

“Just because you two are women, doesn’t mean that you need to pretend that your son is one, too.” Cordelia’s mom finally broke the silence and Olivia gritted her teeth.

“It’s not that I’m pretending that he’s a girl.” Olivia explained. “I just think that clothing is clothing and if he wants to wear a skirt, all the power to him.”

“It’s just a piece of fabric.” Cherche followed quickly in support of her wife. “He likes tutus because Olivia is a dancer and sees all the videos of her in ballet.”

“Is that what you do for a living?” I didn’t like the tone that Cordelia’s mother was using. It was like she was looking for parts of the women’s lives to critique.

“No, both Cherche and I actually work at this branch of Cordelia’s cafe.” Olivia tried to keep her tone even. “Sumia also works with us. It’s a lot of work with such a small group of employees, but in a way it’s better because we’re closer.”

“I see.” Cordelia’s mom said. “So, you met again when you began to work there?”

I noticed a minute too late that she was staring directly at me. Her eyes were hard and I did my best not to shrink away in my chair. Cordelia put a gentle hand on my thigh. “We actually ran into each other at the grocery store. Cordelia found out that one of my jobs wasn’t paying me as much and offered me this job. Now I work at the cafe on weekdays and at a home improvement store on weekends, it’s really nice.”

“Why are you working two jobs?”

The same judgemental tone. “I’m divorced from the girls’ father, so I need the money to sustain myself and them. Cordelia has been such a help to get me less hours and more time to spend with the girls, I’m very grateful for her.” I thought it would help to give her credit where credit was due. It backfired.

“So my daughter’s so helpful in regards to you, where were you ten years ago?”

The room went silent, except from the group of four year olds chatting away. The conversation we were having piqued Lucina’s interest, her blue eyes bore into Cordelia’s mom’s.

“Mom--”

“Where were you when my daughter was trying to commit suicide?” The question hit me like a knife to the heart. That was a good question. I knew that Cordelia had assured me that there was nothing I could have done, but I  _ should _ have done something. The guilt was eating at me, not allowing me to answer.

“Do not talk about that with my children here.” Cordelia said in a dark voice, the grip on my thigh tightening. She made a pointed look in the direction of Lucina, who had stopped eating to pay attention. “Mom, I chose to struggle through that alone. I didn’t ask for help and that’s not Sumia’s fault. Sumia is an amazing woman who has helped me through so much recently and I will not listen to anyone say anything else.”

“She turned you gay.”

At this point, Cordelia rolled her eyes and laughed. I could hear the stress radiating from it. “Believe me, mom. She didn’t turn me anything. You should switch it around, because I’m her first girlfriend. I know this might be hard for you to hear, but she’s nowhere near the first woman I dated. I just didn’t feel safe enough to come out to you.” Cordelia stood from her seat. “Now, if you would excuse me for a second. I’m going to use the restroom.”

As she walked away with her chin up, Olivia motioned for me to follow. I excused myself and followed Cordelia to the bathroom.

I knocked gently on the door and Cordelia let me in. The second I closed the door behind me, she let out an aggravated sigh. “She’s so infuriating. She’s saying things just to make us angry. She’s ugh--”

I took her hands. They were both shaking. “I’m sorry there’s nothing I can do to make it better. I wish she wouldn’t say those things so pointedly, but I think the most we can hope for is teaching her something new, even if it is just small. One step at a time.”

“I can’t believe she brought that up in front of everyone.” She said, this time quietly. She broke eye contact with me, examining the pictures on the wall. “It’s embarrassing.”

“She shouldn’t have done that.” I agreed, pulling Cordelia into a hug. “But please do know that we all support you. Nothing your mother says about you is going to change that.”

“Thank you, darling.” Cordelia whispered, kissing my neck gently. “We just have to get through this dinner. I doubt she’s going to stay long after.”

“We can do it.” I promised. “You’re doing so good. I think Olivia might start a fist fight.”

Cordelia was about to respond, but there was a small knock at the door. “Who is it?”

“Lucina.” Cordelia broke away from the hug and opened the door. My daughter was standing there alone, rocking back and forth on her feet. “I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

Cordelia’s lips spread into a smile. “I think I am. Thank you for checking, that’s really sweet of you.” I was proud of my daughter. She was growing up so fast, it was unbelievable.

“What’s suicide?” She then asked. “Everyone got upset when your mom mentioned it.”

“Lucina, you shouldn’t--”

Cordelia put a hand up and squatted down, taking a knee in front of my daughter to talk to her face to face. “Suicide is what it is called when someone kills themself. When I was younger, I was really sad and I used to think that I didn’t want to live anymore, so I hurt myself a lot.”

Lucina’s face grew serious. “Are you okay now?”

“Yes. It took a long time, but because of sweet people like you, I don’t feel that way anymore. It was a really scary part of my life, so that’s why everyone got upset when my mom mentioned it.”

“I’m glad that you don’t feel like that anymore. I like having you here.” Lucina said.

I could feel myself tearing up and could see some tears glistening in my girlfriend’s eyes as well. “Can I have a hug? I like being here with you.”

I watched as the two of them hugged and my heart ached with my love for the two of them. Seeing Cordelia care for my daughter like this, how could I not fall in love?

The three of us wandered back into the living room where Olivia was attempting small talk. The rest of the dinner went smoothly, even with Cordelia’s mother’s pointed and vicious questions. Cordelia mostly deflected them as we collectively decided it wasn’t worth it to argue. Only time would tell if she would come around to the idea of our lives.

As I was clearing away the dishes, I felt a hand fall on my shoulder. I turned to find myself face to face with the woman who made the dinner much harsher than it should have been. Cordelia’s mother had just said goodbye to her daughter.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” She led me outside by her car.

“It was nice to see you again.” I said, even though I knew the words that would follow would only be vicious. I didn’t want to be the one being rude, even if it did nothing.

“I don’t like that you’re playing with my daughter.” She said. “You’re ruining her chance at a normal marriage.” I cringed at the word normal. “You weren’t there for her when she was suffering the most, I don’t believe that you care at all.”

“I care so much for your daughter, believe me.” I said earnestly. I could feel my fingertips shaking, but I knew it was something I had to do. I was the one who could take some of the burden for Cordelia. “I’m a mother with my own children at all. I’ve already been married once. I’m not going to willingly play around and not be serious.”

“What, do you love her?” She glared at me and I froze.

Did I love her? I knew what my gut reaction was, but it was difficult. Love was always tricky for me and always would be. To stand with someone at the altar, promising forever and not receiving it. Love was something that was shockingly finite and fickle, one too many words or one too little breaking it into shards.

But, above all love was trust.

“I love her.” I said, straightening up a bit. “All I want is to be able to make sure she can get the right help and treat herself the way she deserves. Her and Severa are part of my family now.”

Cordelia’s mother shook her head, but I stood my ground.

“I hope you can learn to accept us. If you love your daughter, that’s something that shouldn’t be hard.”

I watched as Cordelia’s mother rolled her eyes at me, getting into her car. “I don’t think you’ll be around for long.”

“I will be.” I said and, for once, I didn’t doubt my words. Sure, there was so many things that could go wrong, but I had faith in Cordelia. I knew we would be able to work things out.

I watched the woman drive away and I hoped that she would be able to open up her heart. Not only for Cordelia’s sake, but her own. Only because I knew that Cordelia had a family outside of her, but I wasn’t quite so sure about her mother.

*

Once we were finally alone, Cordelia and I made cups of tea and sat on the couch. We didn’t turn the TV on, rather we used all of our attention on each other. Cuddling, kissing, making sure that we were okay.

“Thank you so much for today.” Cordelia said after we sat in silence for a while. I could hear the dishwasher begin to run its cycle, the gentle beeping from the kitchen. We didn’t completely clean the kitchen, but at the very least the dishes were started. “I couldn’t have made it through without you.”

“You would have been able to.” I assured. “But I’m glad that I was here to help. I really think things are looking up with your mom. Even if things don’t work out, you always have all of us here for you. You’ll never be alone.”

Cordelia nestled her face into my nest. She looked tired, but I could feel her smile against my skin. “I love you, Sumia. You don’t have to say it back if you’re not ready, but I can’t put into words how glad I am that you’re back in my life. That you’re willing to stay.”

“I love you, too.” I kissed the top of her head, smoothing down the hair with my free hand. “The same goes back to you. You’ve changed my life and I could never explain how grateful I am for it.”

“We’re going to be okay.” Cordelia said, I took her tea from her hand and put it on the coffee table in front of us before she could drop it. I lined mine next to it, both only half empty. “I can’t just put my life on hold waiting for my mother to come around. We’re going to be okay.”

“Of course we are.” I whispered, leaning back into the couch. Cordelia’s breath softened as she began to drift off, both her arms wrapped tightly around my waist and her head resting on my chest. I hugged her close, letting my own eyes drift shut. We were far from perfect, but we were okay.

And sometimes, that is all you need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for supporting me over the past several months to see this story through to the end! I do hope to do more with this particular AU that I created (even with the next generation), so stay tuned. Thank you so much for all your kind comments and I hope that you enjoyed my self indulgent Sumdelia ;)


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